UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


ON   TEACHING 

ITS  ENDS  AND  MEANS. 


ON    TEACHING: 


ITS  ENDS  AND  MEANS. 


BY 


HENRY    CALDERWOOD,   LL.D.,   F.R.S.E. 

PROFESSOR  OF  MORAL  PHILOSOPHY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  EDINBURGH, 
AND  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  EDINBURGH  SCHOOL  BOARD. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS, 

FOURTH  AVENUE  AND  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET, 

NEW  YORK. 

1875. 


Education 
Library 


C  ) 
(Q15 


TO 
THE  MEMBERS  OP  THE  FIRST  SCHOOL  BOARD 

FOR  THE  CITY  OF  EDINBURGH, 

THIS   VOLUME  IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 
BY  ITS  CHAIRMAN, 

THE   AUTHOR. 


404515 


PREFACE. 

little  volume  is  published  with  the 
view  of  aiding  young  teachers  in  their 
work  It  is  designed  to  indicate  what  I  think 
are  usually  regarded  as  the  true  ends  of  teach- 
ing, and  to  give  such  hints  as  to  methods 
suitable  for  attaining  these  ends,  as  may  prove 
suggestive  to  those  who  are  in  daily  practice. 
If  these  brief  discussions  direct  observation 
upon  important  points  in  procedure,  and  give 
form  to  reflection  upon  the  occurrences  of  the 
School-room,  they  will  have  gained  their 
primary  design. 

If  this  slight  contribution  to  the  cause  of 
Education  afford  besides  some  encouragement 
to  the  Head  Masters  of  our  Primary  Schools 
in  their  efforts  to  promote  the  higher  branches 
of  common  instruction,  and  to  aim  at  the 


viii  PREFA  CE. 

higher  results  of  teaching,  I  shall  have  addi- 
tional satisfaction,  as  I  am  well  aware  that  it 
is  the  desire  of  the  Head  Masters  to  guide 
their  Assistant  Teachers  and  Pupil  Teachers 
in  striving  after  an  ideal  much  above  what  the 
Code  prescribes  and  promises  to  reward. 

Only  one  thing  more  I  venture  to  name  as  an 
end  which  may  be  in  some  measure  gained  by 
a  publication  of  this  kind.  I  have  often  had 
occasion  to  remark  the  desire  of  parents  to 
reach  some  clear  conviction  as  to  the  best 
methods  for  forming  the  character  of  their 
children.  I  am  not  without  hope  that  the 
hints  here  offered  to  Teachers  may  to  some 
extent  meet  the  requirements  of  a  still  wider 
circle.  Should  this  be  the  case,  I  shall  be 
specially  thankful  on  account  of  the  import- 
ance to  be  attached  to  a  sound  home-training 
as  the  true  support  of  school-training. 

As  one  who  has  spent  a  large  portion  of  his 
life  in  professional  teaching,  and  has  been 
engaged  in  all  forms  of  it,  I  would  express  the 
hope  that  under  the  new  order  of  things  in- 
augurated by  the  Education  Act,  we  may  see 


PREFACE.  ix 

an  advance  in  our  whole  system  of  education, 
specially  the  attainment  of  a  uniform  and 
graduated  plan,  under  which  National  Schools, 
and  those  Schools  maintained  by  private  en- 
terprise, or  under  public  trust,  may  work  well 
together,  and  in  which  primary  instruction  for 
the  neglected  may  have  as  its  accompaniment 

higher  education  for  all. 

H.  C. 

EDINBURGH,  17th  November  1874. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION,  ....  1 


CHAPTER  I. 
SELF-GOVERNMENT,      .  .  .    •       .         11 

CHAPTER    II. 
SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE,     .  .  24 

CHAPTER  IIL 
INSTRUCTION,     .  .  .  ...         47 

CHAPTER  IV. 
FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER,  .  .         72 

CONCLUSION,       .  .        108 


TEACHING: 

ITS   ENDS   AND   MEANS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

TJTVERY  one  recognises  that  a  person  can 
-L^  teach  only  what  he  knows.  This  is  at 
once  so  clear  and  so  important,  that  there  is 
some  risk  of  the  opinion  becoming  general 
that  teaching  is  merely  the  communication  of 
so  much  knowledge.  The  progress  of  educa- 
tion in  a  country  does  not  lessen  the  danger 
of  general  approval  being  given  to  such  a  view, 
but  rather  increases  it.  In  organizing  a  National 
System  of  Education,  and  providing  guarantees 
for  its  efficiency,  we  are  inevitably  tempted  to 
narrow  the  sphere  of  education  to  the  limits 
within  which  our  tests  are  available.  The 
examination  test  is  far  from  being  a  complete 
test  of  educational  results.  Yet  it  is  upon  this 
we  are  constrained  mainly  to  rely  when  we 
would  take  measures  to  secure  a  high  standard 
of  teaching.  Consequently,  from  the  earliest 
A 


2  ON  TEACHING. 

stages  of  preparation  for  the  profession,  the 
young  teacher  has  abundant  inducement  to 
think  that  everything  depends  upon  the 
amount  of  knowledge  he  acquires,  and  the 
amount  he  afterwards  communicates.  The 
course  of  preparatory  study  favours  this  view. 
The  fixed  curriculum,  the  uniform  examina- 
tions, the  standards  of  excellence,  the  certifi- 
cates of  first,  second,  and  third  class,  intended 
to  indicate  professional  rank — all  of  them  quite 
essential,  every  one  will  allow — tend  to  en- 
courage the  conviction  that  education  is  con- 
cerned only  with  knowledge.  The  certificated 
teacher  has  the  requisite  amount  of  instruction, 
and  is  by  inference  a  competent  instructor.  He 
has  attained  what  is  essential  for  professional 
engagement. 

Teachers  need  to  guard  themselves  against 
this  narrowing  of  their  professional  aims,  and 
dwarfing  of  their  own  intellectual  and  moral 
nature.  Many  and  weighty  are  the  considera- 
tions which  should  lead  members  of  the  pro- 
fession to  support  each  other  in  maintaining  a 
higher  ideal  of  professional  life.  Happily  many 
of  our  teachers  are  alive  to  the  danger,  and 
anxious  to  guard  against  it. 

Even  if  the  end  of  teaching  be  restricted  to 
the  communication  of  knowledge,  it  is  plain 
that  the  possession  of  so  much  information  is 
not  the  only  requirement  for  instructing  others. 
Knowledge  of  grammar,  geography,  history, 
and  modern  languages  does  not  constitute  any 
one  a  professional  educator.  While  yet  on  the 
benches  of  the  students'  class-room,  the  candi- 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

dates  for  office  are  constantly  led  to  distinguish 
between  knowledge  and  teaching  power.  They 
find  a  difference  among  instructors.  It  is  not 
always  the  man  who  knows  most  who  proves 
himself  the  best  instructor.  The  beginner  in 
teaching  needs  to  carry  with  him  the  recollec- 
tion of  this  difference.  When  he  passes  from 
the  students'  bench  to  the  position  of  command 
on  the  floor  of  the  class-room,  he  obtains  fresh 
evidence  every  day  that  much  more  is  wanted 
there,  than  is  implied  in  drawing  upon  his 
stores  of  information.  The  test  of  practice 
brings  out  what  written  examinations  had  not 
previously  discovered,  but  had  rather  obscured. 
New  demands  come  with  the  practical  work  of 
teaching.  He  must  be  his  own  teacher  in  the 
art  of  teaching,  while  he  is  engaged  in  the 
practice.  Even  by  his  failures,  as  well  as  by 
such  success  as  he  is  able  to  command  at  first, 
he  must  learn  to  rise  to  higher  success.  To 
perceive  the  need  for  this  is  the  truest  be- 
ginning. 

The  learning  to  which  I  refer  is  something 
very  different  from  the  continued  study  of 
books.  Such  study  will  secure  a  fuller  know- 
ledge and  a  higher  culture,  but  the  learning 
which  is  even  more  needful  for  the  teacher  is 
to  be  gathered  by  practice  in  teaching  under 
carefully  maintained  self-observation.  He  who 
would  succeed  as  a  teacher  must  be  a  censor 
over  his  own  practice.  He  must  be  thoroughly 
interested  and  observant  as  to  his  own  success. 
As  Dr.  Arnold  admirably  said,  when  inquiring 
about  a  master,  "  I  prefer  activity  of  mind  and 


4  ON  TEACHING. 

an  interest  in  his  work  to  high  scholarship,  for 
the  one  may  be  acquired  far  more  easily  than 
the  other." l 

Further,  however,  it  must  be  considered  that 
the  communication  of  information  is  not  the 
sole  end  of  teaching.  A  simple  test  may  satisfy 
any  one  that  a  higher  task  has  been  by  common 
consent  assigned  to  the  teacher.  If  the  pupils 
of  any  school  are  rude,  reckless,  and  riotous, 
the  school  management  bears  some  consider- 
able amount  of  blame.  The  common  verdict 
in  such  a  case  is  quite  decided.  Public  opinion 
expects  more  than  knowledge  as  the  result  of 
school  attendance.  The  more  this  matter  is 
considered  the  more  obvious  it  will  become 
that  the  expectation  is  just.  I  do  not  say 
that  the  teacher  is  always  fairly  judged  in  this 
relation,  nor  do  I  say  that  the  expectations  of 
parents  are  always  reasonable.  Home  training 
is  the  earliest  training,  and  all  teachers  are  in 
some  degree  dependent  on  what  that  training 
has  been.  Deficiency  here  shows  itself  quickly 
at  school.  It  is  unreasonable  to  expect  that 
school  training  can  altogether  make  up  for 
neglect  or  mismanagement  at  home.  No  doubt 
the  school  must  somehow  or  other  protect  itself 
from  the  evil  consequences  which  flow  in  upon 
it  because  of  a  break-down  in  home  rule.  In 
such  cases,  however,  a  burden  is  thrown  upon 
the  teacher  which  he  should  not  in  fairness  have 
had  to  bear.  Accepting,  however,  his  responsi- 
bilities, encumbered  with  all  the  disadvantages 

1  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Thomas  Arnold,  D.D.,  by 
Rev.  A.  P.  Stanley,  D.D.,  vol.  i.  p.  92. 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

which  may  gather  around  him,  the  teacher 
undertakes  to  exercise  supervision  over  the 
deportment  and  conduct  of  the  pupils. 

The  combination  of  such  supervision  with 
instruction  is  the  greatest  service  the  teacher 
can  render  to  families  and  to  the  State.  In 
the  humblest  sphere  the  teacher  may  claim 
this  great  work  as  his  own.  In  a  National 
System  of  education,  proper  training  of  the 
children  becomes  an  important  end.  Modern 
civilisation  wisely  rejects  the  Platonic  idea, 
that  children  should  be  more  the  children  of 
the  State  than  of  their  parents.  The  unity  of 
national  life  is  found  to  be  most  secure  in  the 
recognition  of  the  sacredness  of  family  life. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  we  can  see  the 
loftiness  of  aim  and  motive  which  made 
Socrates  and  Plato  seek  the  good  of  the  State, 
in  the  goodness  of  her  citizens.  In  this  we 
reach  the  root-idea,  made  grandly  conspicuous 
by  the  Christian  system,  that  goodness  of 
character  is  the  end  of  life.  The  teacher, 
then,  seeks  a  grand  result  when  he  labours  to 
contribute  towards  the  formation  of  good 
character  in  the  young,  helping  them  to  fight 
bravely  against  temptation,  and  to  persevere  in 
the  way  of  rectitude  through  all  difficulties. 

The  National  Compulsory  System  of  educa- 
tion, now  fortunately  secured  for  Scotland, 
suggests  another  point.  The  State  has  charged 
itself  with  enforcing  the  primary  education  of 
all  the  children  in  the  land.  This  it  has  done, 
expressly  with  the  view  of  meeting  an  ad- 
mitted difficulty  of  vast  magnitude,  perplexing 


6  02V  TEACHING. 

to  statesmen,  philanthropists,  and  all  students 
of  the  social  problems  of  our  age.  Compulsory 
primary  education  is  avowedly  adopted  as  the 
best  instrument  for  attempting  to  cope  with 
the  alarming  increase  of  dissoluteness  and  vice. 
There  is  no  statesman — no  thinker  of  any  type 
— who  believes  that  good  reading  and  counting 
and  writing  will  exercise  a  spell  stronger  than 
the  lures  to  profligacy.  What  the  nation  is 
looking  for  is  a  sound  moral  training,  along 
with  instruction,  and  by  means  of  all  the 
accompaniments  naturally  attendant  on  the 
instructor's  work.1  If  the  nation  is  disap- 
pointed in  this,  it  loses  the  higher  of  the  re- 
sults it  looked  for  when  setting  in  motion  a 
complicated  and  expensive  machinery.  It  has 
given  the  whole  teaching  profession  a  higher 
status — an  immense  gain  in  itself — but,  by  the 
same  act,  it  has  imposed  a  more  extended  and 
more  visible  responsibility  upon  the  profession. 
The  success  of  school  training  is  to  be  tested 
by  the  moral  condition  of  the  nation  in  after 
years.  The  nation  desires  not  merely  that  the 
memory  of  the  children  be  well  stored,  but  that 
the  intellect  be  developed,  and  habits  formed 
which  may  remain  as  capital  to  draw  from 
when  the  work  of  life  must  be  done.  The 
great  difficulty  of  our  modern  civilisation,  bred 

1  The  German  view  of  this  matter  is  well  put  in  these 
words  :  "  Primary  instruction  shall  have  for  its  aim  to 
develop  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  the  reason,  the  senses, 
and  the  bodily  strength."  Quoted  in  M.  Victor  Cousin's 
Report  on  the  State  of  Public  Instruction  in  Prussia,, 
Miss  Austin's  translation,  p.  55. 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

of  our  keen  competitions,  clash  of  interests, 
crowding  together  of  multitudes  of  people,  and 
consequent  craving  for  excitement,  is  a  waning 
morality.  It  meets  us  in  all  the  narrow  lanes 
of  our  cities — lanes  which  we  Scotch  naturally 
describe  as  "  closes."  In  these  piles  of  build- 
ing, vice  rather  than  poverty  spreads  out  the 
signs  of  human  wretchedness.  In  these  shelters 
of  misery  multitudes  of  children  have  all  that 
they  can  call  a  "home."  The  attractions  of 
home — priceless  to  us — are  altogether  un- 
known to  them.  From  their  earliest  days 
they  have  a  hard  and  hardening  life.  Their 
chances  of  comfort  and  respectability  are  few. 
What  the  nation  desires  is,  that  skilful  and 
kindly  teaching  extend  to  them  the  chance 
which  they  should  otherwise  altogether  miss. 
Mainly  for  the  sake  of  these  children  has  our 
national  compulsory  system  of  education  sprung 
into  being.  The  primary  education  of  the 
humbler  classes  in  other  spheres  was  compara- 
tively well  attended  to,  though  that  also  will 
share  in  the  gain  coming  with  more  popular 
and  responsible  management  of  our  school 
system.  But  now  special  arrangements  have 
been  made  that  the  little  sufferers  from 
parental  neglect  and  profligacy  have  education 
provided  for  them.  It  is  benevolently  de- 
signed, and  wisely  projected  in  the  interests 
of  the  children,  and  of  all  classes  in  the  com- 
munity. All  concerned  in  the  matter,  parents 
who  are  alive  to  the  interests  of  their  children, 
members  of  our  School  Boards,  who  will  care 
for  those  who  are  not  cared  for  by  their 


8  ON  TEACHING. 

natural  guardians,  teachers  of  our  public 
schools,  with  all  members  of  the  profession, 
and  the  public  generally,  must  desire  to  see 
education  in  the  truest  and  widest  sense  pro- 
vided in  our  primary  schools.  Ultimately 
success  must  depend  upon  intelligent  and 
hearty  co-operation  of  School  Boards  and 
Teachers.  With  this  view  it  is  needful  that  we 
recognise  that  training,  as  well  as  instruction, 
is  to  be  aimed  at.  The  task  of  training  those 
children  who  are  not  only  altogether  neglected 
at  home,  but  sadly  ill-used,  will  no  doubt  be  a 
difficult  one.  It  is  not,  however,  an  unreason- 
able task  which  is  assigned  to  the  teacher  in 
this  case,  but  so  far  as  its  nature  is  concerned, 
the  common  task  of  all  school  teaching,  and 
one  for  which  the  teacher  is  in  every  way 
competent. 

Some  may  object  that  this  assigns  more  to 
the  teacher  than  belongs  to  him.  On  the  con- 
trary, success  in  the  ordinary  course  of  teach- 
ing implies  all  this.  Truthfulness,  honesty, 
and  self-denial  are  as  needful  in  the  discipline 
of  the  school  as  in  the  regulation  of  the  affairs 
of  life.  They  must  be  secured  by  the  prefer- 
ence of  the  children  themselves,  if  the  teacher 
is  not  to  be  daily  hampered  with  the  need  for 
enforcing  right  action  by  an  exercise  of  autho- 
rity in  particular  cases.  Each  successive  day 
of  school  life  must  tend  to  develop  the  virtues 
of  moral  character  among  all  the  children,  if 
teaching  is  to  proceed  with  success.  If  good 
conduct  is  extorted  only  under  force  of  autho- 
rity, or  even  by  a  form  of  bribery,  the  work  is 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

poorly  done.  Right  actions  must  be  admired 
by  the  children  themselves,  and  be  done  by 
them  as  occasion  requires,  because  of  their  re- 
cognised goodness,  else  there  is  an  unnecessary 
and  wasteful  strain  upon  the  educational 
machinery.  All  educational  appliances  work 
at  a  disadvantage  when  the  effort  of  the  teacher 
is  not  supported  by  a  basis  of  character  in  the 
scholars.  Hence  a  great  deal  is  done  in  the 
earliest  stages  of  education  if  a  large  amount 
of  time  is  bestowed  upon  training  the  children 
in  habits  of  self-government.  Ingenuity  may 
be  exercised  in  discovering  the  most  agreeable 
and  varied  methods  of  attempting  this,  but  the 
thing  itself  must  be  done.  The  earlier  it  is  be- 
gun the  easier  is  the  task ;  the  more  thoroughly 
it  is  done  in  the  opening  years  of  school  life, 
the  more  rapid  the  progress  in  after  years. 
But  at  no  time  in  an  educational  course  can 
the  teacher  wisely  surrender  all  regard  to  the 
influence  he  is  exercising  upon  the  character  of 
his  pupils.  In  maturer  years,  when  learning 
for  its  own  sake  may  be  expected  from  those 
who  present  themselves  for  instruction,  we  may 
reasonably  expect  that  foundation-work  is  not 
to  be  done  in  morals,  any  more  than  in 
instruction,  but  even  then  no  teacher  can  do 
his  utmost  for  his  pupils  unless  it  is  made  ob- 
vious to  them  that  he  reckons  on  character, 
and  deals  with  them  on  the  assumption  of  its 
possession. 

If  all  this  be  admitted,  it  must  be  clear  that 
weight  of  moral  character  is  essential  for  high 
success  in  teaching.  The  teacher  can  exercise 


10  ON  TEACHING. 

influence  over  the  scholars  only  according  to 
what  is  in  himself.  He  cannot  lift  them  higher 
than  he  is  himself,  or  induce  them  to  attempt 
to  reach  an  eminence  which  he  is  not  himself 
striving  to  attain.  Far  above  every  other 
consideration,  as  a  pledge  of  success  in  profes- 
sional work,  is  the  possession  of  high  moral 
character. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

SELF-CONTROL  is  the  first  requisite  for  suc- 
cess in  teaching.  The  work  of  governing 
even  the  youngest  children  requires  government 
of  one's-self.  A  man  must  have  his  powers  under 
command,  if  others  are  to  have  the  full  benefit 
of  his  guidance.  This  rule  holds  in  all  spheres. 
It  is  essential  for  a  high  standard  of  success  in 
any  profession.  Only  in  this  way  can  the 
physician  give  his  patient  the  full  benefit  of 
his  knowledge  and  skill.  On  this  condition 
alone  can  a  man  sway  an  audience  with  any 
share  of  that  power  which  belongs  to  the 
orator.  On  no  other  condition  can  a  teacher  in 
reality  become  master  over  his  scholars.  Self- 
command  is  essential  even  for  teaching  a  single 
child,  much  more  when  a  person  must  govern, 
in  order  to  teach,  large  numbers  of  children. 

Another  phase  of  this  rule  is  seen  when 
things  are  looked  at  from  the  children's  point 
of  view.  The  youngest  children  are  quick  in 

observation.     They  readily  discover  what  de- 

11 


12  ON  TEACHING. 

gree  of  control  is  maintained  by  those  over 
them.  Guided  by  their  own  observations, 
they  quietly  submit  to  be  governed  only  in  so 
far  as  they  recognise  the  elements  of  governing 
power  in  their  superiors.  Fond  of  liberty, 
prone  to  catch  at  a  passing  opportunity  for 
diversion,  children  are  quick  in  taking  ad- 
vantage of  any  deficiency  in  the  power  of 
command,  any  laxity  in  the  exercise  of  control, 
or  want  of  observation.  These  characteristics 
are  so  uniform  that  they  cannot  be  overlooked. 
He  who  would  succeed  as  a  teacher  must 
recognise  them, — must  enjoy  their  comical 
side,  and  not  merely  be  disturbed  by  the  test 
to  which  they  subject  himself, — but  must 
utilize  them  so  as  to  make  them  contribute 
towards  government.  The  restlessness  of 
children  is  inevitable, — their  .fondness  for  fun 
is  delightfully  helpful  in  saving  school  work 
from  prosaic  monotony.  In  harmony  with 
these  admissions,  they  must  be  governed.  He 
who  would  control  them  easily  and  wisely 
must  keep  himself  in  harmony  with  the  chil- 
dren, which  certainly  implies  that  he  keep 
himself  in  good  humour,  and  shun  irritation. 

School  government  must  be  a  reign  of 
justice.  It  must  be  recognised  as  such  by  the 
pupils,  and  honoured  by  them  accordingly. 
For  this  self-control  in  the  teacher  is  the  one 
essential.  Deficiency  in  self-command  will 
speedily  unsettle  the  very  foundations  of 
discipline.  It  will  lead  to  frequent  examples 
of  injustice  in  the  use  of  authority,  which 
more  than  anything  else  risks  the  discipline  of 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  13 

the  school.  Resentment,  which  naturally  arises 
under  consciousness  of  injustice,  is  roused 
in  the  hearts  of  the  scholars.  No  obstacle  to 
«chool-management  could  be  more  serious. 
The  sense  of  right  is  opposed  to  existing 
authority,  which  is  as  perilous  for  the  School 
as  for  the  State.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  how 
detrimental  to  school-order  this  must  be.  Every 
one  who  has  had  anything  to  do  with  teaching 
understands  it.  Some  of  the  pupils  are  swayed 
by  a  feeling  of  irritation  against  their  teacher, — 
signs  appear  of  a  disposition  to  make  game  of 
the  lessons, — the  teacher  becomes  restless, — in 
an  excited  manner  he  challenges  first  one,  then 
another ;  he  threatens  to  do  a  good  deal  more 
than  he  carries  out,  and  at  last  he  is  hurried 
into  an  angry  castigation  of  some  of  his  pupils 
without  complete  certainty  of  his  position. 
His  cane  has  been  rattling  mercilessly  on  the 
table,  disturbing  the  nerves  of  everybody 
within  hearing,  but  now  it  comes  down  upon 
the  pupils  in  a  style  so  unguarded  that  every 
one  of  them  feels  he  needs  to  look  out  for  his 
safety.  Not  unfrequently  at  such  times  scholars 
are  punished,  not  for  any  fault  of  their  own, 
but  simply  on  account  of  the  want  of  self-com- 
mand in  their  teacher.  The  recollection  of 
my  own  blundering  in  this  way  makes  it  easy 
to  describe  the  scene ;  and  the  painfulness  of 
the  recollection  greatly  strengthens  the  desire 
I  feel  to  contribute  in  some  degree  to  the  help 
of  those  who  have  to  pass  through  the  ordeal 
connected  with  the  attainment  of  self-control. 
A  teacher  cannot  hope  altogether  to  maintain 


14  ON  TEACHING. 

the  calmness  which  implies  an  absence  of  all 
nervous  excitement,  but  he  must  seek  that  calm 
which  is  gained  in  the  absence  of  anger,  and 
which  admits  of  clear  outlook  and  reflection. 

Here,  however,  as  in  most  things,  a  certain 
amount  of  painfulness  must  be  expected  in 
acquiring  experience.  The  beginner  must  look 
for  this,  and,  aided  by  the  anticipation,  bear 
quietly  without  dragging  the  children  into  a 
share  of  his  uneasiness.  To  be  without  estab- 
lished habits  of  government,  and  yet  be  under 
the  necessity  of  regulating  the  conduct  and 
instruction  of  a  troop  of  children,  is  a  position 
of  acknowledged  difficulty.  Every  one  admits 
this,  and  therefore  complete  success  in  school- 
management  at  the  outset  is  not  to  be  expected. 
Teaching  would  be  altogether  an  exception  to 
ordinary  rule,  if  practice  did  not  favour  im- 
provement. The  teacher  has  experience  to 
acquire,  and  it  must  be  gathered  in  the  school- 
room. In  order  to  acquire  it  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  a  teacher  needs  observation  and  tact 
to  apply  his  resources  to  the  ends  he  has  in 
view.  No  study  of  books,  however  valuable 
they  be,  and  however  helpful  their  suggestions, 
can  suffice.  No  degree  of  reflection  on  the 
discussions  submitted  to  review,  important  as 
such  reflection  is  for  gaining  benefit  from  the 
experience  of  others,  can  meet  the  demands  of 
the  teacher's  life.  He  must  make  a  beginning 
for  himself — must  face  his  own  difficulties 
(probably  thinking  that  nearly  the  worst  speci- 
mens of  juvenile  humanity  have  fallen  into  his 
hands), — must  proceed  through  the  midst  of 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  l.> 

mingled  failures  and  successes, — must  note  his 
blunders,  and  learn  from  them,  as  well  as 
accept  gladly  the  encouragement  found  in  suc- 
cess. Only  by  slow  degrees  can  dexterity  in 
professional  duty  be  attained.  The  real  tests 
of  advance  are  found  in  the  measure  in  which 
intelligence  and  not  feeling, — justice  and  not 
temper, — kindness  and  not  mere  force,  have 
determined  the  management  of  classes.  Upon 
all  these  things  a  teacher  must  carefully  ad- 
judicate, not  as  the  scholars  judge,  by  their 
own  comfort  or  misery,  but  deciding  how  far 
the  practice  has  been  in  conformity  with  the 
ideal  which  he  keeps  before  his  mind.  In  pro- 
portion as  that  ideal  is  lofty,  and  his  purpose 
resolute,  will  be  the  freshness  of  interest 
with  which  he  daily  returns  to  work.  He  must 
throw  off  the  burdensome  sense  of  past  failures; 
he  must  save  his  pupils  from  a  painful  inherit- 
ance from  previous  irritations,  and  seek  by 
new  efforts  some  conquest  over  temper  and 
feeling,  with  freer  use  of  his  own  intellect  and 
conscience. 

For  success  here,  it  is  necessary  to  recognise 
the  conditions  which  are  unfavourable,  but 
inevitable,  and  which  must  therefore  be  ac- 
cepted. The  bustle  of  the  school  is  no  doubt 
the  reverse  of  favourable  to  a  quiet  spirit,  but 
it  is  unavoidable.  There  are  circumstances  in 
which  it  would  be  a  marvel  if  a  man  were 
anything  but  calm;  the  circumstances  of 
the  teacher  are  such  as  to  make  calmness 
specially  difficult,  and  yet  his  duties  make  it 
essential.  It  is  natural  to  wish  for  quiet  when 


16  ON  TEACHING. 

a  difficult  thing  is  to  be  done,  but  the  teacher 
cannot  have  it.  He  may  as  well  ask  that 
difficulties  be  changed  into  simplicities.  Hear- 
ing one  read,  and  at  the  same  time  observing 
scores  of  others  around,  he  must  have  an  eye 
open  for  every  movement,  an  ear  for  every 
sound,  and  yet  he  must  carry  forward  without 
allowance  for  obstruction  the  real  work  of  the 
school. 

Further,  it  must  be  expected  that  the 
teacher's  work  will  vary  in  difficulty  according 
to  the  sphere  which  he  occupies.  The  teacher 
cannot  get  pupils  "made  to  order"  in  any 
case.  But,  granting  that  diversity  of  disposi- 
tion is  to  be  expected  among  pupils  in  all 
schools,  the  task  of  teaching  becomes  increas- 
ingly arduous  according  to  the  increase  of 
numbers  and  deficiency  of  home-training. 
The  degree  of  self-command  which  may  be 
ample  for  the  management  of  a  class  of  thirty 
boys  who  have  been  long  accustomed  to  the 
discipline  of  school  life,  may  be  utterly  un- 
equal to  the  task  of  governing  a  mixed  school 
of  two  or  three  hundred  children.  Wider 
range  of  observation  is  required, — far  greater 
tact  in  adaptation  to  the  greater  variety  of 
demands,  and  withal  there  is  a  greater  waste 
of  brain  and  nerve  energy,  directly  tending 
to  increased  irritability.  A  lower  range  of 
attainment  may  suffice  for  the  teacher  of  a 
primary  school  than  for  the  teacher  of  the 
highest  classes  in  an  advanced  school ;  but  the 
teacher  of  the  primary  school  will  find  a 
heavier  demand  made  upon  breadth  of  moral 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  17 

power  and  upon  organizing  and  administrative 
ability  than  falls  upon  the  teachers  of  the 
higher  subjects  of  instruction.  In  fact,  it  must 
be  recognised  by  our  School  Boards,  and 
should  be  considered  by  teachers  in  judging  of 
personal  adaptation  to  various  forms  of  work, 
that  pre-eminent  ability  of  one  type  is  wanted 
for  the  government  of  our  larger  primary 
schools,  and  pre-eminent  ability  of  another 
type  for  those  who  are  to  guide  studies  in 
classics,  mathematics,  and  the  higher  literature. 
Pre-eminence  in  either  field  must  carry  with 
it  a  high  remuneration.  In  the  primary 
school,  payment  must  be  not  only  for  what  a 
man  knows,  but  in  addition  for  power  of 
government,  without  which  no  eminence  in 
attainment  can  suffice. 

Returning  now  to  what  is  common  to  all 
teachers,  I  would  remark  that  speciality  of 
disposition  in  a  few  of  the  pupils  is  likely  to 
make  a  special  demand  on  the  self-control 
attained  by  the  teacher.  Specialities  increase 
difficulties.  This  is  apparent  in  the  relation  be- 
tween school-management  and  self-government. 
All  children  cannot  be  governed  on  exactly 
the  same  model ;  the  more  peculiar  the  child 
in  bent  and  emotional  nature,  the  more  con- 
sideration he  requires  from  the  teacher.  If 
such  consideration  is  to  be  given,  and  recog- 
nised specialities  are  not  to  be  swallowed  up 
in  the  mass,  an  additional  strain  is  put  on 
self-command.  Your  peculiar  children  are 
certain  to  discover  their  peculiarities  at  the 
most  inconvenient  times.  When  any  such 
B 


18  ON  TEACHING. 

turn  comes,  it  must  not  be  got  over  in  a  rough 
and  ready  way.  Nothing  has  worth  here 
which  is  not  the  result  of  thought.  Hurry 
may  do  grievous  hurt.  Skill  in  teaching  may 
be  largely  increased  by  the  need  for  occasional 
consideration  of  the  most  judicious,  discriminat- 
ing treatment  of  difficult  cases.  More  careful 
reflection  is  required  for  the  proper  manage- 
ment of  a  fiery  spirit  than  can  ever  be  needful 
in  the  training  of  a  gentle  nature.  There  is 
more  test  of  a  teacher's  power  in  the  attempt 
to  govern  a  stubborn  child,  and  to  help  him  in 
honest  efforts  to  govern  himself,  than  in  long 
superintendence  of  the  amiable.  Whatever 
the  variety  of  disposition  presented,  the  first 
requisite  for  success  in  dealing  with  it  is  self- 
command.  This  is  only  partially  established  if 
it  be  equal  to  nothing  more  than  the  govern- 
ment of  the  more  pliable  class  of  pupils.  A 
teacher  should  accept  a  specially  difficult  case, 
as  a  valuable  test  of  his  progress  in  professional 
skill.  Successfully  managed,  it  not  only 
strains  but  strengthens  a  teacher's  power. 
Every  child  in  the  school  reaps  the  advantage 
of  such  a  victory ;  submission  to  discipline  is 
more  effectually  established,  and  fresh  influence 
is  gathered  for  future  advantage  to  all.  There 
is  thus  a  sense  in  which  the  bad  cases  are  the 
best  cases,  as  I  really  believe  that  the  most 
troublesome  of  boys  may  turn  out  the  best  of 
men.  As  a  physician  will  concentrate  his 
interest  on  a  critical  illness,  and  feel  a  peculiar 
joy  in  bringing  his  patient  through  ;  as  counsel 
intrusted  with  the  duty  of  placing  a  compli- 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  10 

cated  claim  before  the  Court  will  set  himself 
to  master  its  details,  and  marshal  the 
weightiest  arguments ;  as  a  minister  of  religion 
will  feel  his  mind  attracted  towards  one  as- 
sailed with  doubts,  striving  to  bring  light  in 
upon  the  darkness ;  so  will  the  true  teacher  feel 
deep  interest  in  seeking  to  prove  the  instructor 
and  guide  of  one  who  resents  and  resists  every 
form  of  control.  A  passionate  child,  whose 
anger  rises  on  the  slightest  offence  from  a 
neighbour;  a  boy  who  will  stand  unmoved 
while  repeating  a  series  of  falsehoods  to  screen 
himself  from  suspicion;  a  pupil  who  will 
greedily  snatch  at  a  passing  opportunity  for 
cheating  a  companion,  will  be  the  object  of 
concern  to  a  teacher,  and  often  engage  his 
private  reflection.  Corporal  punishment  does 
not  afford  the  direct  line  to  success ;  a  teacher's 
task  is  not  so  simple  as  this  would  imply. 
There  is  no  specific  for  the  cure  of  all  diseases, 
and  there  is  no  single  method  for  correcting 
all  the  faults  of  children.  Faults  are  not 
merely  to  be  put  down,  but  the  dispositions 
from  which  they  originate  are  to  be  rooted 
out  and  supplanted.  Skill  more  than  force  is 
wanted  for  this  ;  reflection  more  than  flogging, 
which  might  be  done  by  a  machine — by  "a 
thrashing-mill,"  as  an  ingenious  school-fellow 
named  a  teacher  given  to  the  rough  and  ready 
use  of  the  strap.  Leather  may  be  a  useful 
commodity,  but  it  is  not  a  substitute  for 
thought.  Punishment  may  awaken  fear,  and 
fear  may  help  reflection ;  but  everything  de- 
pends upon  the  justice  of  the  punishment,  and 


20  ON  TEACHING. 

its  adaptation  to  the  case.  Fear  may  suppress 
a  threatened  outbreak  of  anger,  but  it  is  in- 
sufficient to  overcome  the  irritable  disposition, 
as  the  teacher  may  see  by  a  glance  into  the 
playground.  Terror  may  drive  back  a  false- 
hood from  the  tongue,  but  it  may  also  afford  a 
motive  for  the  practice  of  deceit.  The  boy  who 
will  not  cheat  when  there  is  risk  of  detection, 
may  cheat  with  alacrity  when  advantage  is 
certain.  A  reign  of  terror  may  thus  encourage 
cowardice  and  cunning.  For  success  in  train- 
ing others  there  is  no  easier  method  than  the 
arduous  task  of  self-government,  reflection,  and 
carefully  devised  experiments  illustrating  how 
those  who  are  younger  may  become  better. 

When  self-government  has  been  attained  in 
some  considerable  measure,  the  young  teacher 
has  the  one  grand  essential  for  success  in  school- 
practice.  Command  of  a  school  then  becomes 
an  easier  thing,  making  allowance  always  for 
such  occasional  perplexities  as  are  incident  to 
all  forms  of  effort.  Children,  recognising  the 
power  of  command  as  a  reality  existing  in  the 
midst  of  them,  never  think  of  experimenting 
on  the  probability  of  a  break-down.  This  oc- 
casions the  difference  recognised  in  a  school 
when  a  stranger  steps  into  command,  and  when 
the  teacher  is  present  who  has  established  him- 
self in  the  confidence  of  the  pupils.  In  the 
latter  case  the  children  know  that  they  have  a 
strong  hand  over  them,  and  they  experience 
the  comfort  of  settled  government.  Without 
self-command  in  the  teacher,  no  amount  of 


SELF-GOVERNMENT,  21 

attainment  will  suffice  to  gain  the  respect  and 
submission  of  the  children.  At  the  early 
stages  of  school  life  there  is  small  reverence  for 
learning.  I  shall  never  forget  the  warning  on 
this  subject  which  stands  out  before  me  from 
my  recollections  of  school  days.  Our  teacher 
was  a  gentleman  of  large  attainments,  and  vast 
energy  of  character,  with  immense  muscular 
power,  but,  unfortunately  for  himself  and  us, 
an  irritable  temper.  He  was  in  no  wise  re- 
strained by  the  new-fangled  notions  adverse  to 
corporal  punishment.  If  sternness  of  manner 
and  severity  of  chastisement  could  have  de- 
terred boys  from  disturbing  a  master,  he  should 
have  dwelt  in  perfect  peace.  Instead  of  this, 
his  life  and  ours  were  subjected  to  constant 
worry.  The  scourging  went  on  hotly  each  day, 
and  the  disorder  roared  around  in  the  grandest 
style.  He  was  fond  of  a  good  implement, 
which  would  swing  well  round  his  shoulders, 
and  come  firmly  down  upon  ours.  This  he 
found  in  a  strap,  which  he  applied  with  the 
buckle-end,  after  the  strap  had  been  drawn 
through  the  buckle.  Soon  after  the  school  had 
been  opened  for  the  day,  the  din  began  to  rise  ; 
his  eyes  wandered  about  excitedly,  his  fingers 
twitched  nervously  around  the  belt ;  speedily 
some  poor  unfortunate  was  observed  com- 
mitting a  trivial  offence,  for  which  in  ordinary 
circumstances  a  word  of  rebuke  would  have 
been  ample  punishment,  but  the  teacher  was 
incapable  of  resting  with  moderate  measures  ; 
this  youth's  fault  gave  occasion  for  the  inevit- 


22  OAT  TEACHING. 

able  outbreak ;  the  "  strapping"  process  began, 
and  soon  became  general,  to  the  mingled  con- 
sternation and  delight  of  most  of  us,  who 
dreaded  a  "  whack,"  but  exulted  in  a  "  row." 
Government  in  such  circumstances  became 
hopeless.  Worst  of  all,  the  teacher  was  often 
at  fault  in  the  distribution  of  his  merciless 
strokes.  The  love  of  fair  play  awoke  sym- 
pathy for  the  innocent  sufferer,  and  enmity 
.against  the  teacher.  Once  a  book  was  thrown 
at  the  master  by  some  one  more  daring  than 
the  rest.  In  his  fury  the  teacher  rushed  upon 
one  of  the  pupils  and  belaboured  him.  Un- 
fortunately, he  had  selected  the  wrong  boy. 
Things  reached  their  climax.  The  actual 
transgressor  stepped  out  on  the  floor,  his  face 
glowing  with  indignation,  while  he  shouted  : 
"  Why  do  you  strike  him  1  He  did  nothing. 
I  threw  the  book."  The  scene  of  application 
was  changed.  The  strap  now  flew  round  the 
proper  shoulders,  but  a  fight  ensued,  in  which 
the  teacher  had  the  worst  of  it  morally,  if  not 
physically.  Teaching  in  such  circumstances 
was  hopeless,  and  the  attempt  soon  came  to 
an  end.  The  teacher  abandoned  the  profession, 
entered  upon  a  business  life,  and  afterwards 
rose  to  eminence  in  it.  Self-command,  if  it  be 
only  made  a  primary  consideration  with  the 
teacher,  will  save  from  perplexities  unimagined 
by  those  who  have  not  witnessed  scenes  of 
disorder  at  school.  Nowhere  can  a  man  be 
more  thoroughly  tormented  in  our  day  than  in 
the  school-room,  if  he  lack  power  of  command. 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  23 

There  are  few  spheres  in  which  one  can  have 
a  more  important  field  of  usefulness,  with  in- 
terest to  himself,  and  ample  encouragement,  if 
only  he  understand  how  to  command  others. 
For  this  the  very  first  requisite  undoubtedly 
is,  that  he  be  able  thoroughly  to  command 
himself. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE. 

FROM  self-control  we  pass  naturally  to  the 
management  of  the  scholars.  With  the 
teacher,  self-command  is  a  means  to  a  recog- 
nised end.  He  governs  himself  in  order  that 
he  may  the  better  govern  others.  We  are 
here  concerned  with  the  practical  aspects  of 
school  government.  Such  government  exists 
for  the  two  ends  of  instructing  and  training  the 
children.  All  school  arrangements  must  point 
towards  these  two  results. 

For  successful  government  there  must  be 
harmony  with  the  nature  of  the  children. 
Regard  must  be  had  to  their  intelligence,  and 
also  to  the  motive  forces  which  both  quicken 
their  intellectual  life  and  sway  their  conduct. 
Bad  motives  will  also  be  found  playing  their 
pernicious  part,  and  suitable  methods  must  be 
adopted  to  check  their  play.  All  this  is  in- 
volved in  the  maintenance  of  a  healthy  school 
discipline.  The  task  is  not  an  easy  one,  any 
more  than  the  work  of  self-control.  But  the 


SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE.  25 

performance  of  it  is  an  essential  condition  for 
successful  teaching.  The  patience  and  dis- 
crimination requisite  must  be  cultivated  by  all 
who  aim  at  an  honourable  place  in  the  pro- 
fession. 

And  here  it  is  to  be  observed  that  school 
government  must  proceed  not  only  in  the  midst 
of  lesson-learning,  but  while  the  lessons  receive 
the  chief  attention.  This  secondary  position, 
so  far  as  arrangement  and  outward  appearance 
go,  must  not  be  overlooked  as  that  which  be- 
longs to  the  essential  matter  of  government. 
The  teacher  is  at  all  times  engaged  instructing, 
as  if  that  were  his  only  work,  but  he  is  covertly 
and  by  necessity  governing  all  the  while.  It 
is  in  every  way  better  for  himself  and  for  all 
the  scholars  if  this  latter  exercise  do  not  be- 
come very  conspicuous.  It  best  serves  its  end 
when  it  is  quite  secondary  on  the  field  of  ob- 
servation. Teaching  does  not  exist  for  the 
sake  of  discipline,  but  discipline  for  the  sake  of 
teaching.  Like  the  instrumental  accompani- 
ment to  a  song,  it  attends  upon  the  teaching, 
supporting  it  throughout.  This  subordinate 
position  is  thoroughly  compatible  with  effi- 
ciency ;  for  discipline  is  not  to  be  secured  by 
complicated  methods  such  as  might  largely 
engross  the  attention  of  the  teacher.  Govern- 
ment with  the  least  possible  manifestation  of 
care  and  effort  is  that  which  is  most  easily 
established.  Once  established,  it  accomplishes 
its  object  with  the  silent  consent  of  all  con- 
cerned. 

The   chief  interest   at   this   point  gathers 


26  ON  TEACHING. 

around  the  question,  What  are  the  best 
methods  for  securing  discipline  ?  The  teacher 
must  have  it  clearly  and  finally  settled  in  his 
own  mind  what  are  the  conditions  on  which 
he  can  hope  to  sway  a  company  of  children. 
Such  sway  can  be  obtained  only  by  taking 
account  of  what  the  children  naturally  look 
for  in  a  superior,  in  order  that  they  may  re- 
spect and  trust  him.  They  want  to  see  quietly 
and  consistently  the  evidence  not  only  of  supe- 
rior knowledge,  but  also  of  practical  wisdom 
and  of  warm  genuine  sympathy.  No  one 
among  them  could  tell  in  so  many  words  what 
they  wish  to  find  in  their  teacher,  but  these 
are  the  things  they  are  all  alike  feeling  after. 
The  teacher,  then,  must  look  at  the  scholars, 
teach  them  in  every  subject,  and  control  them 
in  their  procedure,  under  constant  recognition 
of  the  facts  that  they  are  amenable  to  reason 
and  to  good  feeling,  and  are  all  anxious  to 
live  in  the  good  opinion  of  their  teacher.  By 
these  considerations  he  must  be  ruled,  if  he  is 
to  find  it  a  reasonably  easy  task  to  keep  order 
among  a  host  of  children. 

It  may  not  be  unnecessary,  however,  to  sug- 
gest here  that  a  teacher  needs  to  guard  himself 
against  the  tendency  to  expect  the  impossible. 
He  aims  at  the  most  complete  order  and  quiet 
compatible  with  work,  but  he  does  not  expect 
absolute  stillness.  Children  are  by  nature 
restless,  and  that  restlessness  is  to  be  allowed 
for.  It  is  natural,  and  cannot  be  regarded  as  i 
breach  of  order  without  injustice,  which  must 
result  in  cruelty  to  the  children,  and  must 


SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE.  27 

imperil  discipline  itself.  The  natural  restless- 
ness of  youth  must  be  considered,  and  school 
arrangements  adapted  to  it.  If  there  is  a 
constant  supply  of  fresh  air,  without  exposing 
the  children  to  currents,  and  if  during  winter 
a  sufficient  degree  of  warmth  is  at  the  same 
time  maintained,  the  physical  conditions  are 
so  far  complied  with  under  which  children  can 
be  expected  to  conduct  themselves  as  if  they 
were  comfortable.  But  still  further  in  the 
same  direction,  it  is  a  great  aid  to  discipline  if 
there  be  from  time  to  time  change  of  posture, 
as  well  as  variation  in  the  subject  of  study  to 
suit  the  capacity  of  sustained  attention  in  the 
pupils.  It  is  useless  to  theorize  on  such  matters. 
The  observation  of  the  teacher  must  decide 
upon  the  times  and  forms  of  variation  desir- 
able. What  we  need  to  be  delivered  from  in 
such  matters  is  a  system  of  routine,  blindly 
ordaining  that  all  school  life  be  crushed  within 
cast-iron  frameworks.  A  tramp  through  the 
school-room  to  a  good  march,  played  on  the 
piano  or  harmonium,  would  at  once  change  the 
feelings  of  scholars  growing  weary  with  work, 
and  would  secure  order  with  greatly  less  toil 
to  the  teacher.1  Regard  to  the  physical  con- 
ditions on  which  attention  can  be  secured  is 

1  Frobel's  Kindergarten  system  for  interesting  and  train- 
ing very  young  children  deserves  study.  Frbbel  was  the 
worthy  disciple  of  Pestalozzi.  His  method  is  presented  in 
accessible  form  in  a  lecture  by  Joseph  Payne,  Professor  of 
the  Science  and  Art  of  Education  in  the  College  of  Pre- 
ceptors, London—  Friibel  and  the  Kindergarten  System. 
II.  S.  King  and  Co.,  London. 


28  ON  TEACHING. 

constantly  required  in  teaching,  but  it  is  only 
preparatory  to  the  more  important  intellectual 
and  moral  conditions. 

Discipline  is  subjection  to  the  teacher's 
authority,  in  accordance  with  the  order  which 
has  been  prescribed  for  educational  ends.  It 
must  be  all-pervading  in  the  work  of  the 
school,  but  not  always  asserting  itself.  Silent 
as  the  air  around  them,  it  must  provide  for  the 
healthy  development  of  the  children  for  whose 
life-wants  it  is  adapted.  What  is  wanted  is  the 
sense  of  subjection  on  the  part  of  the  pupils, 
with  as  little  as  possible  of  the  assertion  of 
authority  by  the  teacher. 

A  variety  of  methods  for  swaying  the  action 
of  his  scholars  lies  open  to  the  teacher.  He 
must  decide,  on  clear  grounds,  to  what  degree 
he  may  employ  any  of  these,  and  to  which 
preference  should  be  given.  Order  must  be 
maintained,  and  to  this  end  obedience  must,  if 
needful,  be  enforced.  The  pressing  question 
is,  how  best  to  secure  the  desired  result.  By 
looks,  by  words  of  encouragement,  or  by  words 
of  warning  and  reproof,  and  by  appropriate 
punishment  for  breach  of  order,  he  may  act 
upon  the  determination  of  the  scholars.  The 
teacher  who  would  establish  discipline  on  a 
sure  basis  must  decide  what  is  the  most  potent 
form  of  influence,  and  which  ought,  therefore, 
to  be  the  prevailing  form  in  use  from  day  to 
day.  I  incline  to  think  this  may  be  decided 
clearly  and  finally.  The  use  of  the  Eye  is  the 
basis  of  power ;  only  after  that  in  point  of 
influence  comes  the  use  of  the  Voice,  or  of 


SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE.  29 

recognised  signs,  which  may  save  the  need  for 
utterance ;  and  only  as  a  last  resort,  by  all 
means  to  be  avoided  until  dire  necessity  lias 
arisen,  Punishment. 

The  power  of  the  Eye  is  the  primary 
source  of  the  teacher's  influence.  Only  let  the 
pupils  feel  that  the  eye  of  the  teacher  runs 
swifter  to  the  mark  than  words  fly  to  the  ear, 
and  his  power  will  be  felt.  The  conduct 
which  is  to  be  regulated  must  be  observed. 
To  the  extent  to  which  this  is  possible,  every- 
thing done  in  the  school  must  be  under  the 
eye  of  the  teacher.  To  forget  this,  or  to  be- 
come indifferent  to  the  need  for  it,  is  a  serious 
mistake.  As  a  pre-requisite,  it  is  of  conse- 
quence to  have  the  'scholars  so  placed  that 
observation  is  easy.  Any  arrangement  of  seats 
which  makes  it  difficult,  involves  a  wilful  sur- 
render of  a  large  part  of  a  teacher's  power, 
and  at  the  same  time  of  the  children's  benefit. 
The  eye  is  much  more  the  expression  of  all 
that  the  teacher  is  than  the  best-chosen  words 
can  be.  The  scholars  can  understand  it  more 
quickly  than  they  can  understand  words,  and 
there  is  nothing  for  which  the  eye  is  more 
available  than  the  expression  of  satisfaction  or 
dissatisfaction  with  what  is  seen.  The  eye  is 
hardly  misinterpreted  by  one  who  observes  its 
play.  In  addition,  it  is  the  most  quick  and 
most  silent  of  messengers.  There  is  no  quicker 
telegraph  for  the  school-room,  and  it  is  practi- 
cally free  from  risk  of  error  in  communication. 
Without  the  slightest  interruption  to  school 
work,  the  eye  conveys  more  encouragement, 


30  ON  TEACHING. 

warning,  and  rebuke  than  there  could  be  time 
to  utter.  To  leave  all  this  uncommunicated 
would  be  an  unspeakable  loss  of  influence. 
Through  the  eye  an  unexpressed,  but  clearly 
recognised,  understanding  is  gradually  estab- 
lished between  master  and  pupil,  which  greatly 
aids  school  management.  Connected  with  this 
form  of  control  there  is  all  the  advantage  of 
comparative  secrecy  in  the  midst  of  public  pro- 
cedure. It  serves  all  the  ends  of  a  cipher  in 
telegraphic  communication  ;  and  in  school  life 
private  influence  upon  a  single  mind  is  of  vast 
consequence.  The  teacher  is  constantly  occu- 
pied in  public  exercises,  yet  more  than  most 
men  he  needs  opportunity  for  communicating 
hints  of  purely  personal  application,  which 
are  best  conveyed  when  they  reach  the  person 
concerned  without  knowledge  of  those  around. 
This  holds  specially  of  those  timely  warnings 
which  are  to  check  the  beginning  of  wrong- 
doing. To  utter  every  warning  to  a  child  in 
the  hearing  of  all  his  companions  would  be  to 
blunt  the  edge  of  the  warning  itself.  In  many 
cases  the  calling  of  general  attention  to  what 
is  being  done  would  throw  the  mind  of  the 
offender  into  an  attitude  of  defence,  altogether 
unfavourable.  A  warning  conveyed  by  a  look 
gives  the  pupil  all  the  advantage  of  profiting 
by  it  without  injury  to  self-respect.  Encourage- 
ment thus  conveyed  gives  a  great  additional 
impulse,  carrying  a  consciousness  of  a  certain 
advance  in  the  good  opinion  of  the  teacher, 
without  the  fact  giving  rise  to  pride,  as  it 
might  otherwise  do.  On  these  grounds,  it  can 


SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE.  31 

be  maintained  that  the  eye  is  the  vehicle 
of  the  quickest,  widest,  kindest,  and  most 
stimulating  influence  which  a  teacher  can  em- 
ploy. If  children  while  within  school  only  be 
conscious  that  the  eye  of  the  teacher  runs  every- 
where, they  become  insensibly  convinced  of  his 
power,  and  yield  to  it  without  a  thought  of 
opposition. 

Next  in  order  of  influence  is  the  teacher's 
Voice.  For  mere  purposes  of  discipline  it  cannot 
be  so  frequently  in  use  as  the  eye.  It  must  be 
more  commonly  appropriated  to  the  work  of 
general  instruction.  When  used  to  promote 
discipline,  the  voice  should  convey  the  same 
lesson  to  all  the  scholars.  In  this  way  the 
teacher's  voice  should  be  a  training  power  for 
the  whole  school.  But  words  to  be  wisely  used 
in  this  way  must  be  sparingly  used.  There  is  not 
a  greater  mistake  in  this  relation  than  to  sup- 
pose that  abundance  of  speaking  is  the  measure 
of  its  power.  Needless  speaking  is  an  offence 
against  good  government,  as  in  the  scholar  it 
would  be  a  breach  of  discipline.  In  every 
case  it  should  be  generally  felt  that  there  was 
real  occasion  for  speaking.  Besides,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  even  appropriate  counsel 
may  be  overdone  by  frequency  of  repetition. 
Warnings  lose  their  force  if  they  are  inces- 
santly reiterated,  and  this  unfortunate  result  is 
more  rapid  if  they  are  invariably  shouted  at 
the  pitch  of  the  voice.  As  has  been  well  said, 
"  Nothing  more  impairs  authority  than  a  too 
frequent  or  indiscreet  use  of  it.  If  thunder 
itself  were  to  be  continual,  it  would  excite  no 


32  ON  TEACHING. 

more  terror  than  the  noise  of  a  mill."  In- 
cessant fault-finding  involves  a  rapid  evapora- 
tion of  moral  influence.  None  of  us  likes  to 
be  continually  lectured,  and  children  as  natur- 
ally and  reasonably  dislike  it  as  their  seniors 
do.  A  very  little  observation  will  suffice  to 
convince  any  teacher  that  similar  warnings 
closely  repeated  become  a  positive  disturbance 
to  the  whole  school. 

Last  in  the  order  of  consideration — last,  and 
least  to  be  resorted  to  in  practice — is  Punish- 
ment of  offences.  I  do  not  exclude  punish- 
ment from  consideration,  nor  do  I  see  how  it 
is  to  be  excluded  from  practice  while  the 
teacher  fulfils  the  functions  of  his  office.  All 
government  must  be  supported  by  the  sanction 
of  punishment  for  wilful  violation  of  its  autho- 
rity. While,  however,  this  is  to  be  admitted, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  schools  of  our  country 
are  for  ever  freed  from  the  reproach  of  an  irra- 
tional and  cruel  resort  to  corporal  punishment 
for  the  most  trivial  offences.  I  do  not  deny 
that  the  old  regime  could  point  in  self-vindica- 
tion to  good  results  secured  by  its  rough  appli- 
ances. I  do  not  deny  that  there  are  many — I 
myself  among  the  number — who  look  back  on 
the  share  of  suffering  experienced  under  well- 
directed  use  of  "  the  tawse  "  with  acknowledg- 
ment of  its  value.  But  the  records  which  can 
be  given  of  scholastic  punishment  in  years  not 
far  past  are  undoubtedly  anything  but  honour- 
able to  our  educational  skill  and  study  of 
human  nature.  When  the  instruments  for  chas- 
tising the  scholars  were  in  constant  use,  their 


SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE.  33 

very  commonness  made  them  insufficient,  and 
tempted  the  teacher  to  a  baneful  inventiveness 
of  new  and  more  humiliating  forms  of  punish- 
ment. So  it  was  that  forms  of  punishment 
utterly  disgraceful  came  to  be  resorted  to.  I 
can  tell  of  a  hapless  boy  who  had  the  misfor- 
tune to  be  seized  on  the  occasion  of  a  general 
outbreak,  who  was  ordered  (on  a  summer  day) 
to  thrust  his  head  up  the  chimney,  and  stand 
in  the  grate.  To  add  to  the  ignominy,  his 
companions,  who  had  been  participators  in  the 
offence,  many  of  them  ringleaders  in  it,  were 
invited  by  the  teacher  to  laugh  at  the  victim 
stuck  up  "  in  durance  vile,"  and  to  meet  with 
a  derisive  shout  his  reappearance  among  them 
with  blackened  face.  One  cannot  think  of  the 
infliction  of  such  penalties,  or  of  the  moral  con- 
sequences of  their  endurance,  without  a  shudder. 
So  must  one  condemn  all  violent  castigation. 
No  teacher  can  vindicate  a  blow  with  the  fist 
or  the  edge  of  his  book.  If  by  any  chance  he 
be  tempted  to  lift  his  foot,  his  feelings  of  con- 
cern should  be  such  as  effectually  to  guard 
against  the  recurrence  of  such  an  action. 
Kicking  does  not  belong  to  the  accomplish- 
ments in  school  practice.  However  good  the 
teaching  was  under  the  flogging  regime,  and 
every  one  who  knows  anything  of  the  history 
of  our  country  knows  it  was  careful  and 
thorough,  the  infliction  of  punishment  was 
often  strangely  separated  from  reflection  and 
justice.  Even  though  such  cases  as  that 
described  were  only  of  occasional  occurrence, 
it  is  beyond  doubt  that  the  continual  resort  to 
c 


34  ON  TEACHING. 

"  the  tawse"  led  many  teachers  to  chastise  their 
pupils  more  as  the  expression  of  their  own 
irritation  with  the  condition  of  things  under 
their  government  than  as  a  reasonable  penalty 
for  the  offence  of  the  sufferer.  The  frequency 
of  chastisement  became  a  temptation  to  the 
teacher.  As  little  can  it  be  doubted  that  it 
tended  to  harden,  not  to  elevate,  the  scholars. 
I  can  recall  in  the  experience  of  my  own  school 
life  the  miserable  days  spent  under  a  teacher 
seemed  at  times  to  lose  all  control  of  him- 
self as  he  struck  out  wildly  on  all  sides.  The 
result  soon  appeared  in  signs  of  general  in- 
subordination, as  in  another  case  to  which  I 
have  already  referred.  The  consequence  of 
this  state  of  things  was  a  chronic  suspicion  in 
the  mind  of  the  teacher  that  evil  •  designs  were 
being  harboured.  This  suspicion  gained  such 
power  over  him  that  I  have  known  him  stand 
behind  the  door,  "  tawse "  in  hand,  to  get  a 
speedy  and  favourable  opportunity  for  venting 
his  rage  upon  some  one  suspected  of  plotting 
mischief.  The  ruse  could  not  be  successfully 
repeated.  The  scholars  became  suspicious  in 
turn.  A  precautionary  peep  through  the  chink 
of  the  door  preceded  entrance  to  the  room. 
When  a  dark  form  was  detected  obscuring  the 
light,  the  door  was  pushed  well  back,  and  a 
sudden  leap  was  made  into  the  room,  which 
baffled  the  master,  was  the  source  of  great 
delight  to  those  already  in  their  places,  and 
gave  the  victim  a  fair  chance  for  facing  round 
and  eluding  the  strap  as  it  flew  wildly  about. 
Things  soon  came  to  a  height  there.  A  council 


SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE.  35 

of  war  was  held,  plotting  treason  against  the 
reigning  authority.  It  was  decided  that  "  the 
tawse" — instrument  of  offence  to  us  all — 
should  be  disposed  of.  On  a  fitting  oppor- 
tunity the  strap  was  seized  and  concealed.  At 
the  end  of  the  day  it  was  triumphantly  carried 
out  of  the  school.  How  to  dispose  of  it  was  a 
temporary  difficulty.  An  empty  cab  passing 
along  the  street  afforded  a  suitable  receptacle. 
Cabby,  unconscious  of  the  part  he  was  playing, 
peaceably  carried  it  away.  When  he  overhauled 
his  carriage  on  "  the  stand  "  that  afternoon,  it 
was  an  unusual  piece  of  property  which  was 
added  to  the  articles  "  found  " — one  not  likely 
to  be  inquired  after  that  evening.  The  loss  of 
"  the  tawse  "  was  matter  of  bewilderment  for 
some  days,  and  when  at  length  a  new  strap 
appeared  in  untarnished  drab,  without  a  single 
crack,  it  was  kept  under  lock  and  key,  where, 
to  the  great  relief  of  master  and  pupils,  it  was 
less  handy  for  offensive  purposes  than  was  the 
old  strap,  as  it  lay  conspicuous  on  the  desk. 

Such  a  description  may  suffice  to  indicate 
the  grounds  on  which  it  is  to  be  deeply 
regretted  that  corporal  punishment  was  so 
frequent  and  so  severe  in  the  past.  I  grant, 
however,  that  power  of  punishment  must  be- 
long to  the  teacher.  There  is  a  theory  adverse 
to  all  corporal  punishment,  which  is  popular  in 
our  day,  and  advocated  by  those  whose  experi- 
ence and  judgment  entitle  their  opinion  to 
great  weight.  I  must  however  confess  myself 
unable  to  acquiesce  in  that  theory.  Its  advo- 
cates have  the  advantage  of  decided  support 


36  ON  TEACHING. 

from  the  States  in  the  American  Union,  which 
have  reached  the  highest  position  in  educa- 
tional arrangements.  Thus  the  Department  of 
Public  Instruction  for  the  City  of  New  York 
instructs  its  teachers  that  they  "  should  never 
resort  to  violent  means,  as  pushing,  pulling,  or 
shaking  the  children,  in  order  to  obtain  their 
attention."  The  reason  given  is  this  :  "  All 
such  practices  constitute  a  kind  of  corporal 
punishment,  and  are  not  only  wrong  in  them- 
selves, but  specially  prohibited  by  the  Board." l 
The  Directory  for  the  City  of  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land, is  not  so  decidedly  adverse  to  corporal 
punishment,  though  it  indicates  the  same  aver- 
sion to  it  which  appears  in  the  New  York 
Manual  There  is  but  one  sentence  under  the 
head  of  Discipline,  and  it  is  this  :  "  The  schools 
shall  be  governed,  as  far  as  possible,  without 
corporal  punishment ;  and  when  such  punish- 
ment shall  be  necessary,  it  shall  in  no  case  be 
inflicted  by  an  Assistant,  except  when  in 
charge  of  the  school  in  the  absence  of  the 
Principal."  Turning  from  America  to  Prussia, 
we  find  the  same  spirit  pervading  that  part 
of  German  legislation  bearing  on  this  subject. 
In  the  General  Law  of  1819  on  the  organiza- 
tion of  Public  Instruction  in  Prussia,2  which 
was  minutely  analysed  by  M.  Victor  Cousin  in 

1  A  Manual  of  Discipline  and  Instruction  for  the  Use  of 
the  Teachers  of  the  Primary  and  Grammar  Schools.  New 
York,  1873.  This  is  a  Manual  of  great  value  in  many 
ways. 

*  Entwurf  eines  allgemeinen  Gesetzes  uber  die  Verfassung 
des  Schulwesens  im  preussischen  Staate. 


SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE.  37 

his  Report  to  the  French  Government  (1831) 
on  the  state  of  Public  Instruction  in  Prussia, 
there  is  a  distinct  deliverance  on  punishments. 
It  is  in  these  words  :  "  No  kind  of  punishment 
which  has  a  tendency  to  weaken  the  sentiment 
of  honour,  shall,  on  any  pretence,  be  inflicted  : 
corporal  punishments,  in  case  they  be  necessary, 
shall  be  devoid  of  cruelty,  and  on  no  account 
injurious  either  to  modesty  or  to  health."1 
These  extracts  may  suffice  to  show  the  re- 
solute and  long-standing  aversion  to  frequent 
corporal  punishment  which  is  shared  by  all 
who  have  pondered  the  educational  perplexi- 
ties surrounding  this  subject.  And  they  may 
be  taken  by  young  teachers  who  are  conscious 
of  considerable  anxiety  as  to  maintaining  their 
authority  over  children,  as  evidence  that 
mature  reflection  and  long  experience  combine 
to  prove  that  school  discipline  is  dependent 
not  so  much  on  the  physical  force  at  the 
command  of  the  teacher,  as  upon  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  forces  at  work  within  the 
school.  That  there  are  offences  which  are 
best  dealt  with  by  chastisement  I  still  think  ; 
but  such  punishment,  if  at  times  needful, 
should  be  a  last  resort  in  extreme  cases.  As 
pupils  advance  in  years,  and  gain  in  self- 
control,  such  punishment  should  be  discon- 
tinued. Settled  convictions  on  this  subject 
seem  to  me  essential  for  the  teacher.  There 
is  no  department  of  action  within  the  school 
where  there  is  more  need  to  shut  off  the 

1  Report  on  the  State  of  Public  Instruction  in  Prussia,  by 
M.  Victor  Cousin.    Translated  by  Sarah  Austin,  1884. 


404515 


38  ON  TEACHING. 

chance  of  acting  upon  momentary  impulse.  A 
sound  practical  test  of  general  results  may  be 
put  in  the  following  form  :  School-government 
is  most  efficient  where  punishment  is  least 
frequent.  Laxity  of  discipline  may  indeed 
square  with  this  test  for  a  short  time,  but  not 
for  many  weeks,  for  there  is  nothing  more 
cruel  than  the  frequent  punishment  which  is 
the  inevitable  result  of  unreasonable  laxity  ; 
hence  the  children  themselves  grow  sick  of 
good-natured  pithlessness,  which  lands  every- 
body in  misery,  and  invariably  prefer  a  de- 
cided uniform  government,  for  the  really  strong 
government  does  not  rest  mainly  on  a  power 
to  punish.  To  a  conscientious  teacher,  that 
is,  a  teacher  seeking  nothing  but  efficiency  in 
school-work,  the  use  of  punishment  must  ever 
be  an  occasion  of  personal  pain. 

The  question  as  to  fit  modes  of  punishment 
is  a  much  more  difficult  one  than  many  parents 
seem  to  realize.  It  is  easier  for  parents  to 
criticise  the  management  of  their  children  in 
school  than  to  lay  down  practical  regulations. 
I  am  not  able  to  see  that  punishments  which 
have  in  many  cases  taken  the  place  of  corporal 
punishment  are  really  improvements.  If  I 
had  my  boyhood  days  back  again,  I  should 
rather  have  my  fingers  tingle  under  the  strap 
than  be  subjected  to  the  milder  penalties  of 
the  present  day.  From  an  educationist's  point 
of  view,  I  question  their  wisdom.  Take,  for 
example,  the  infliction  of  pcenas,  whether  for 
ill-prepared  lessons  or  for  breaches  of  discip- 
line. After  having  myself  tried  this  form  of 


SCHOOlrDISCIPLINE.  39 

penalty,  and  watched  the  effects,  I  felt  con- 
strained to  abandon  it.  Punishment  in  any 
form  must  be  irksome,  but  to  require  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  day's  lesson  to  be  written 
out  by  a  little  offender,  is  a  form  of  penalty 
attended  by  many  disadvantages.  At  first 
sight  it  may  appear  that  this  plan  really  har- 
monizes with  educational  ends,  as  it  may  be 
supposed  the  writing  of  the  lesson  will  impress 
it  better  upon  the  memory.  If  this  be  put  to 
the  test  by  the  teacher,  I  think  he  will  find 
that  the  result  is  not  as  expected.  Besides, 
tho  writing  of  the  pcena  is  thrown  upon  the 
time  set  apart  for  preparation  of  the  lessons  for 
the  following  day.  This  must  be  plain,  ex- 
cept to  those  who  would  assign  a  "  nine-hours" 
working-day  to  children  as  well  as  to  grown 
men.  If  it  be  said  that  the  intention  of  the 
penalty  is  to  shorten  the  time  for  play,  and 
lengthen  the  time  for  work,  I  reply,  this  settles 
the  badness  of  the  method.  There  is  no 
worse  plan  for  bringing  a  child  into  the 
physical  and  mental  condition  for  learning 
than  that  of  cutting  in  upon  the  play  hours. 
An  unexpected  break  in  the  work  may  quicken 
the  mind,  but  an  addition  to  the  regulation 
time  is  unfavourable  to  mental  action.  Take 
the  pcena,  then,  as  an  additional  demand  upon 
the  time  set  apart  for  lesson-learning,  and 
what  is  the  result?  This  additional  task 
hangs  like  a  weight  on  the  spirits  of  the 
learner,  and  the  process  of  learning  is  retarded 
accordingly.  If  all  the  lessons  for  the  follow- 
ing day  are  badly  prepared,  the  pana  affords 


40  ON  TEACHING. 

the  explanation ;  by  its  weight  lesson-learning 
was  reduced  to  drudgery.  The  sense  of  this 
spreads  into  the  next  day,  and  works  further 
mischief.  If,  in  view  of  the  impossibility  of 
managing  well  all  that  must  be  got  through, 
the  pupil  write  out  as  hurriedly  and  carelessly 
as  he  can,  the  educational  benefit  is  lost, 
and  educational  injury  is  being  done.  Many 
of  the  same  objections  apply  to  the  plan  of 
keeping  a  child  in  the  school  after  the  others 
have  got  free.  Greatly  better  in  its  effect 
upon  the  scholar  (and  greatly  better  for  the 
teacher)  than  half-an-hour  of  solitary  confine- 
ment, would  be  five  minutes  spent  in  kindly 
private  remonstrance  in  cases  of  serious  offence. 
I  have  seen  the  most  beneficial  results  from  this 
form  of  dealing  in  the  most  perplexing  cases. 

There  is  room  for  considerable  diversity  of 
opinion  as  to  the  best  forms  of  punishment. 
Granting,  however,  that  punishment  of  some 
kind  may  at  times  be  needful,  the  success  of 
its  use  depends  largely  on  the  spirit  in  which 
it  is  inflicted.  If  it  is  to  impress  the  offender 
aright,  and  at  the  same  time  exert  a  whole- 
some influence  upon  the  other  scholars,  it  must 
be  plain  that  it  has  been  inflicted  solely  be- 
cause of  the  serious  nature  of  the  offence  com- 
mitted. The  fault  must  be  obviously  a  source 
of  grief  to  the  teacher,  and  the  infliction  of 
the  punishment  a  painful  necessity.1 

1  The  whole  question  of  punishment  is  ably  discussed  in 
Education  and  School,  by  the  Rev.  E.  Thring,  M.A.,  Head 
Master  of  Uppingham  School.  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1864. 
Seep.  221. 


SCHOOLDISCIPLINE.  41 

What  I  venture  to  plead  is,  that  punishment 
should  not  be  a  common  element  in  school 
government.  It  should  be  a  last  and  painful 
resort,  when  an  offence  of  unusual  gravity  has 
been  committed.  It  must  stand  out  as  the 
public  testimony  that  neither  falsehood,  nor 
dishonesty,  nor  cruelty,  nor  any  form  of  im- 
morality, can  be  allowed  to  break  in  upon  the 
order  which  has  been  established  for  the  good 
of  all,  and  which  must  be  maintained  at  all 
hazards. 

The  inquiry  may  here  be  pressed,  How  is 
punishment  to  be  restricted  to  cases  so  special 
as  those  now  indicated?  Some  suggestions 
may  be  offered  by  way  of  reply.  More  trivial 
offences  should  be  seen  without  being  publicly 
noticed.  When  a  pupil  is  obviously  striving 
to  do  well,  it  may  often  be  judicious  even  to 
avoid  showing  him  that  his  fault  has  been 
recognised.  At  other  times — and  these  the 
most  frequent — it  may  be  well  to  let  the  child 
see  by  a  look  that  the  fault  has  been  observed, 
though  not  publicly  condemned.  This  course 
of  procedure  is  often  of  great  value.  A  look 
may  be  found  to  carry  rebuke  enough.  Ex- 
cess of  punishing  is  most  readily  avoided  by 
a  full  use  of  the  minor  or  most  silent  methods 
of  expressing  displeasure. 

Further,  it  must  be  remembered  that  chil- 
dren often  incur  displeasure  by  being  allowed 
to  step  across  the  boundaries  of  reserve  and 
self-restraint.  All  the  surroundings  encourage 
them  to  take  the  step,  and  then  by  necessity, 
though  unjustly  nevertheless,  the  teacher  is 


42  ON  TEACHING. 

forced  to  drive  them  back  to  the  ground  be- 
yond which  they  should  not  have  been  allowed 
to  trespass.  Kindle  enthusiasm,  and  keep  it 
alive.  Under  these  conditions  the  pupils  do 
not  so  easily  yield  to  temptation.  Use  care- 
fully the  natural  desire  of  the  scholars  to  stand 
well  in  the  opinion  of  their  master.  With  this 
view,  make  them  feel  as  often  as  possible  the 
encouraging  influence  of  a  favourable  judgment 
of  their  efforts.  Encouragement  in  well-doing 
is  one  of  the  most  powerful  checks  on  evil- 
doing.  Experiencing  the  pleasure  of  approval, 
they  will  strive  more  earnestly  to  excel,  and 
will  shun  public  reproach,  as  they  would  bitter 
disappointment  or  a  heavy  loss. 

One  thing  deserving  of  careful  consideration 
is  the  importance  of  bringing  the  habit  of 
obedience  very  early  into  play.  If  children  are 
accustomed  from  their  very  earliest  school  ex- 
perience to  move  together  in  accordance  with 
fixed  signals,  the  work  of  discipline  is  greatly 
simplified.  Simultaneous  movements: — as  in 
rising,  taking  seats  again,  or  marching — always 
contribute  to  the  result  in  a  way  very  pleasing 
to  those  who  are  being  so  trained.  An  admir- 
able example  of  this  kind  of  training  is  seen 
in  the  marching  of  the  pupils  in  some  of  the 
American  schools  as  they  enter  the  hall  for 
opening  exercises.  The  folding  desks  adopted 
by  the  London  School  Board  have  been  well 
utilized  to  serve  the  ends  of  training.  Each 
desk  accommodates  two.  The  desks  are  set 
in  rows,  with  a  passage  running  down  between 
the  ends  of  the  desks,  and  not  behind,  as  com- 


SCHOOL-DISCIPLINE.  43 

monly.  The  front  part  of  the  desk,  on  which 
the  arm  rests  when  writing,  folds  back  to 
facilitate  egress.  The  boy  going  from  the 
right  of  one  desk  meets  the  boy  coming  from 
the  left  of  another  desk.  To  avoid  confusion, 
each  boy  who  moves  by  the  right  takes  front 
rank ;  each  one  moving  by  the  left  takes  rear 
rank.  This  understood,  movements  are  sig- 
nalled by  the  figures  1,  2,  3.  When  the 
teacher  says  1,  that  is  "Fold  desks;"  2, 
"  Stand ; "  3,  "  Move  into  the  passage."  The 
movements  are  executed  as  promptly  as  the 
figures  are  named.  Any  such  form  of  drill  is 
an  aid  to  discipline,  training  the  scholars  to 
instantaneous  obedience.  Children  take  de- 
light in  the  rapid  execution  of  such  movements. 
Musical  accompaniment  for  guiding  a  march 
increases  the  pleasure  obtained  from  the  exer- 
cise. When  changing  classes — gathering  or 
dismissing  the  pupils — time  is  not  mis-spent, 
which  is  given  up  to  secure  a  steady  march  in 
or  out.  This  aid  to  discipline  is  largely  adopted 
in  Germany  and  in  America.  The  most  success- 
ful example  of  an  entrance  march  I  have  yet 
witnessed  was  executed  by  the  boys  of  the 
juvenile  division  in  Thirteenth  Street  School, 
New  York.  A  few  minutes  before  nine  o'clock 
the  Rector  was  seated  alone  on  the  platform  of 
the  large  hall,  situated  on  the  third  or  upper 
floor  of  the  building.  I  joined  him  as  he  sat 
there.  Exactly  at  nine,  a  boy  stepped  in  and 
touched  a  series  of  bell-pulls  ranged  along  the 
wall  behind  the  platform.  A  teacher  then  sat 
down  before  the  piano  in  front  of  the  platform, 


44  ON  TEACHING. 

and  struck  up  a  march.  Five  entrance  doors 
provided  for  different  lines  of  approach.  By 
each  of  these  a  line  of  boys  began  to  enter 
single  file,  the  boys  being  so  closely  together 
as  to  touch  one  another,  or  nearly  so.  With 
military  precision,  and  a  specially  firm  beat  of 
the  left  foot,  the  march  proceeded  until  the 
lines  were  interlacing,  and  some  were  defiling 
by  the  front  of  the  benches.  In  little  more 
than  four  minutes,  one  thousand  boys  had 
taken  their  places,  and  the  hall  was  crowded. 
At  the  request  of  the  Rector,  I  read  a  portion 
of  Scripture;  thereafter  the  boys  repeated 
aloud  the  Lord's  Prayer ;  two  public  recita- 
tions were  given,  the  one  an  original  essay, 
the  other  a  poetical  passage.  The  counter- 
march began  to  a  different  tune,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  hall  was  left  with  three  small  classes 
stationed  in  different  parts  of  the  wide  area. 

An  example  of  a  similar  kind,  but  consider- 
ably more  varied,  and  therefore  more  extended 
in  its  effect,  I  witnessed  in  one  of  the  large 
school-rooms  of  Berlin.  A  single  class  was  put 
through  a  round  of  exercise,  which  varied  from 
slow  march  to  smart  running.  First,  the  chil- 
dren were  started  in  slow  time,  and  put  through 
a  series  of  evolutions ;  then  the  pace  was  ad- 
vanced to  quick  step ;  and  at  length  the  speed 
was  brought  to  the  "  double,"  the  children 
moving  in  single  line,  not  upon  a  straight 
course,  but  curving  in  a  graceful  wave-like 
movement.  When  the  running  pace  had  been 
started,  time  was  suddenly  changed  from  the 
most  rapid  to  half  or  quarter,  and  responded 


SCHOOLDISCIPLINE.  45 

to  instantly  all  along  the  line.  The  direction, 
as  well  as  the  time  of  their  movements,  was 
constantly  varied,  thereby  greatly  increasing 
the  demand  upon  the  attention  and  agility  of 
the  pupils.  It  was  a  class  of  girls  which  I 
saw  put  through  this  exercise,  and  they  enjoyed 
it  exceedingly.  The  natural  fondness  for  active 
exercise  was  not  only  gratified,  but  the  exercise 
served  the  double  purpose  of  relaxation  and 
training.  By  such  exercises  habitual  and  hearty 
obedience  is  greatly  promoted. 

Very  particularly  must  it  be  kept  in  view 
by  the  teacher  that  quietness  in  governing  is 
most  naturally  allied  with  good  discipline.  A 
loud  voice,  reiterating  commands  in  an  authori- 
tative tone,  is  often  considered  favourable  to 
submission  among  the  scholars.  It  is  not  really 
so.  A  quiet  way  of  issuing  orders  is  favourable 
to  quietness  of  disposition  among  the  scholars. 
It  conveys  a  double  impression — that  obedience 
is  expected,  and  that  there  is  a  large  reserve 
force  at  command,  if  the  teacher  should  have 
occasion  to  put  it  to  use.  The  demand  for 
silence,  shouted  out  at  the  pitch  of  the  voice, 
preceded  by  a  sharp  crack  of  the  cane  upon  the 
desk,  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  thing  desired. 
A  sudden  shout  may  check  the  noise  for  half  a 
minute,  as  a  gust  of  wind  sweeps  the  falling 
water  off  the  direct  line  of  descent ;  but  when 
the  gust  is  over  the  water  falls  as  before. 
Quietness  in  ruling  is  the  sure  sign  of  conscious 
and  acknowledged  power.  This  suggestion  may 
be  taken  from  experience  in  all  departments. 
Look,  for  example,  at  the  command  of  a  huge 


46  ON  TEACHING. 

Atlantic  steamer,  with  over  a  thousand  persons 
on  board.  The  captain  on  the  bridge  amid- 
ships hardly  utters  a  word  except  in  conversa- 
tional tone  to  a  subordinate  officer,  who  sends 
on  the  message  from  one  to  another.  Far  re- 
moved from  the  steersmen,  the  commander 
simply  points  the  finger  of  the  dial-plate  upon 
the  course,  a  corresponding  change  takes  place 
upon  the  dial  within  sight  of  the  steersmen, 
and  the  order  is  executed  without  the  crowds 
on  deck  knowing  that  an  order  has  been  given. 
Only  on  an  occasional  emergency  is  an  order 
so  conveyed  as  to  be  overheard  on  deck.  This 
is  the  model  type  of  true  government.  The 
school-room  may  well  illustrate  this  secret  of 
power.  Teachers  will  find  it  in  every  way  an 
advantage  to  spare  their  voice,  making  the  fact 
of  control  much  more  frequently  felt  than  the 
sound  of  orders  is  heard. 


CHAPTER    IIL 

INSTRUCTION. 

I  DO  not  here  touch  the  question  concerning 
the  relative  value  of  the  several  subjects 
of  study.     My  purpose  does  not  lead  me  to 
treat  of  a  subject  which  has  given  occasion  for 
quite  enough  controversy.     I  wish  rather  to 
direct  thought  on  the  best  modes  of  giving 
instruction  in  any  subject.     I  am  here  con-     *•*./* 
cerned  only  with  the  essential  conditions  of   -**1 
successful  teaching. 

Whatever  the  age  and  attainment  of  the 
pupils  under  charge,  the  first  requisite  for  /?&  /v 
communicating  instruction  is  to  gain  and  keep 
thflir  attention.  Teaching,  to  be  successful, 
must  therefore  be  adapted  to  win  attention. 
At  the  earlier  stages  of  school  life  this  is  the 
one  pressing  requirement.  Somehow,  atten- 
tion must  be  made  possible  even  to  the  most 
restless  little  ones,  to  whom  the  first  restraints 
of  school  life  are  irksome.  Accustomed  to 
have  every  new  object  attract  their  interest 
just  as  long  as  they  recognised  anything 

47 


48  ON  TEACHING. 

attractive  in  it — permitted  to  change  from 
one  engagement  to  another  as  caprice  dictated 
— they  must  be  made  familiar  with  restriction. 
They  must  begin  to  be  regulated  by  the  will 
of  another.  Taking  this  as  self-evident,  we 
are  prone  to  say  that  they  must  do  so,  whether 
they  will  or  not.  This  is  one  of  our  superficial 
current  phrases  which  cover  over  many  points 
needing  careful  consideration.  Attention  is 
not  to  be  secured  by  mere  exercise  of  autho- 
rity. Authority  has  a  great  deal  to  do  through 
the  whole  course  of  school  life,  but  we  cannot 
"  command "  attention,  as  we  say,  by  merely 
demanding  that  it  be  given.  A  radical  mis- 
take is  made  if  a  teacher  lean  on  his  authority 
in  the  school  as  the  guarantee  for  attention  by 
the  scholars.  He  must  consider  the  require- 
ments of  the  undisciplined  mind,  and  adapt 
himself  to  them.  Children  attend  to  what 
interests  them.  This  must  determine  the  kind 
of  assistance  to  be  given  them  in  acquiring 
habits  of  attention.  To  help  them  in  this  is 
an  obvious  part  of  a  teacher's  work.  It  de- 
volves upon  him  to  put  his  instructions  in 
such  a  way  as  to  awaken  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject taught.  This  duty,  indeed,  falls  on  every 
one  who  attempts  to  instruct  others.  The 
literary  man,  the  special  pleader,  the  lecturer, 
the  orator,  must  all  of  them  bestow  much 
thought  on  the  laws  which  determine  the 
mind's  interest  in  any  subject  set  before  it. 
The  master  of  a  school  in  this  respect  shares  a 
task  which  is  common  to  all  who  essay  to 
teach  others.  In  this  appears  the  true  place 


INSTEUCTION.  49 

and  power  of  the  profession.  Still  more  im- 
portant does  the  work  of  the  schoolmaster 
appear  when  it  is  considered  that  he  lays  the 
foundation  for  all  later  and  more  advanced 
teaching.  He  initiates  into  the  process  of 
learning,  which  is  to  be  continued  in  all  after- 
life. The  educator  of  youth  does  not  merely 
communicate  so  much  instruction  from  year  to 
year ;  he  develops  the  receptive  and  acquisitive 
tendencies  of  mind,  which  are  afterwards  to 
play  their  part  in  the  intellectual  activity  of 
the  nation.  He  trains  the  intelligence  of  those 
who  are  afterwards  to  be  the  teachers  of  others, 
as  well  as  of  those  who  are  only  to  be  interested 
inquirers  after  truth. 

In  his  efforts  to  maintain  attention,  the 
teacher  is  aided  by  the  natural  curiosity  of 
his  pupils,  though  it  is  equally  true  that  he  is 
tried  by  their  natural  restlessness.  Curiosity 
is  to  be  utilized  as  the  corrective  of  restless- 
ness. To  awaken  expectation — to  keep  it 
alive,  and  even  to  add  to  its  strength  by  that 
which  it  feeds  upon — is  to  succeed  in  teaching. 
Here  arise  several  considerations  deserving 
notice  from  the  schoolmaster.  Children  are 
most  susceptible  of  what  comes  through  the 
senses.  It  is  therefore  a  great  point  gained 
when  the  eyes  as  well  as  the  ears  of  the  pupils 
can  be  kept  in  exercise  during  the  lesson.  To 
reach  the  mind  by  double  avenues  at  the  same 
moment  is  to  increase  the  chance  of  success. 
The  value  of  sight  as  an  agency  of  instruction 
is  generally  recognised.  However  true  it  may 
be  in  any  case  that  hearing  may  suffice  to  con- 
D 


50  ON  TEACHING. 

vey  the  whole  truth,  there  is  in  every  one  a 
natural  disposition  to  resort,  nevertheless,  to 
sight  as  a  favourite  auxiliary.  Every  one  is 
conscious  of  the  desire  to  see  a  speaker  while 
listening  to  his  statements.  Every  experienced 
speaker  is  aware  that  he  sacrifices  much  of  his 
power  if  he  does  not  speak  to  the  eye  as  well 
as  to  the  ear.  We  all  know  how  strong  is  the 
desire  to  watch  the  performances  of  the  several 
members  of  an  orchestra  while  we  listen  to  the 
piece  which  they  are  rendering.  In  all  pro- 
bability we  should  more  accurately  realize  the 
composer's  design  if  we  completely  closed  our 
eyes  and  simply  listened,  but  the  fascination 
of  sight  is  too  strong  for  most  of  us  to  make 
it  easy  to  content  ourselves  with  the  feast  of 
sound.  This  keenness  of  interest  in  what  is 
seen  is  experienced  by  boys  and  girls  perhaps 
even  more  intensely  than  it  is  by  their  seniors. 
Hence  the  value  of  the  black-board  in  all  de- 
partments of  teaching,  up  to  the  very  highest; 
hence  also  the  value  of  object-lessons  for 
beginners ;  hence  the  greater  interest  com- 
monly felt  in  observational  and  experimental 
science  than  in  abstract  thought.  Every  school- 
master needs  to  give  great  weight  to  this  con- 
sideration. Children  universally  desire  to  see 
their  teacher  while  he  guides  the  class-work. 
This  desire  continues  powerful  as  long  as  the 
teacher  continues  to  interest  the  children  by 
what  he  says.  As  long  as  he  succeeds  in  this 
respect,  the  eyes  are  bright,  and  fixed  on  the 
common  centre  of  attraction.  So  soon  as  his 
teaching  becomes  slow,  monotonous,  and  want- 


INSTRUCTION.  51 

ing  in  intellectual  energy,  the  eyes  lose  their 
lustre,  and  begin  to  wander  off  from  the 
common  centre.  Thus  it  becomes  obvious 
that  the  teacher  must  himself  be  thoroughly 
interested  in  order  to  interest  his  scholars.  If 
school-work  is  only  a  monotonous  routine  to 
him,  it  cannot  be  anything  better  to  them. 
We  cannot  so  reverse  the  natural  relation  of 
things  as  to  make  the  pupils  responsible  for 
the  intellectual  life  of  the  school.  Children 
may,  indeed,  at  times  find  or  create  interest 
for  themselves,  but  that  is  as  likely  to  be 
away  from  the  subject  of  instruction  as  in  it. 
The  lesson  may  in  some  cases  carry  sufficient 
interest  in  itself.  More  commonly  the  opposite 
will  be  the  case,  and  then  it  depends  upon 
what  the  teacher  makes  the  lesson  appear, 
whether  the  scholars  are  attentive  or  listless. 

One  thing,  however,  must  never  be  forgotten. 
There  are  limits  to  the  possible  continuance  of 
interest  in  any  one  subject.  Neither  teacher 
nor  scholar  is  to  blame  if  interest  by  and  by 
begin  to  flag.  What  is  greatly  wanted  for 
successful  instruction  is  change  of  subject  as 
often  as  the  necessities  of  the  pupils  seem  to 
require.  A  timely  break  in  the  order  of 
lessons  may  be  of  great  consequence  for  con- 
tinued mental  activity.  I  venture  to  think  that 
Time-Tables,  however  important  in  themselves, 
should  never  be  so  rigidly  adhered  to  as  to 
prevent  variation.  Many  disadvantages  would 
be  experienced  if  there  were  needless  deviation 
from  the  fixed  order  of  study.  But  a  lesson 
may  be  specially  difficult,  and  that  must  imply 


52  ON  TEACHING. 

that  it  is  more  irksome  for  the  scholars.  In 
such  a  case  it  is  a  practical  mistake  to  insist 
that  the  children  must  be  kept  on  the  strain 
quite  as  long  as  when  the  work  is  compara- 
tively simple.  "The  Code"  can  hardly  be 
expected  to  do  anything  less  than  attach 
supreme  importance  to  the  "  Time-Table." 
But  to  measure  school- work  for  all  days  of  the 
year  by  the  yard-measure,  or  by  the  clock,  is 
to  deny  to  intelligence  its  fit  place  in  the 
school-room.  It  is  of  far  more  consequence  for 
ultimate  results  that  the  teacher  should  observe 
and  judge  for  himself  as  to  the  wisest  distri- 
bution of  the  several  parts  of  work  for  a  day, 
than  that  all  our  schools  come  under  regulation- 
drill,  which  would  turn  any  slight  deviation 
from  the  Time-Table  into  a  serious  offence. 
By  all  means  let  us  be  saved  from  blind  "  rule 
of  thumb."  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  na- 
tional schools  will  not  become  circumscribed 
by  rule  in  such  a  manner  as  to  deter  our 
teachers  from  exercising  their  own  sagacity  as 
to  minor  deviations  which  a  regard  to  efficient 
teaching  may  suggest. 

Considerable  diversity  of  arrangement  should 
appear  in  the  adaptation  of  lessons  to  the 
capacity  of  children,  in  accordance  with  their 
age  and  advancement.  Powers  of  observation 
are  those  first  in  exercise,  and  these  chiefly 
must  be  called  into  play  in  the  case  of  be- 
ginners. Those  who  devote  themselves  to 
infant-school  teaching  need  a  speciality  of 
teaching  gift.  Vivacity  of  manner,  aptness  of 
descriptive  power,  play  of  imagination,  facility 


INSTRUCTION.  53 

in  passing  lightly  and  rapidly  from  one  theme 
to  others  somewhat  analogous,  with  strong 
delight  in  the  simple  unrestrained  ways  of 
little  children,  are  the  qualifications  which 
specially  point  out  the  teacher  suited  in  a 
marked  degree  for  training  those  who  are  only 
in  the  earliest  stages  of  school  life.  Pictorial 
illustrations  and  object-lessons  must  supply 
attraction  to  the  youngest  scholars.  The 
earliest  demands  upon  memory  should  for 
the  most  part  involve  little  more  than  involun- 
tary recollection.  It  is  enough  at  such  a  time 
if  facts  are  recalled  because  the  picture  illus- 
trating them  is  attractive,  or  the  story  con- 
nected with  them  interesting,  or  the  tune 
pleasing  to  which  the  verses  of  a  hymn  or  song 
are  sung. 

There  are  some  who  object  to  have  lessons 
made  easy  in  this  way.  They  dislike  adventi- 
tious attractions.  They  regard  this  deliberate 
selection  of  the  easiest  and  most  attractive 
methods  of  instruction  for  beginners  as  a 
method  wanting  in  the  sternness  of  the  olden 
times.  I  quite  sympathize  in  the  aversion  to 
having  all  things  made  easy  and  agreeable,  as 
if  children  were  to  be  screened  from  difficulty 
and  hardship.  But  the  realities  of  school  life 
are  such  that  there  is  little  need  for  fearing 
that  children  grow  up  strangers  to  labour  and 
trial.  There  is  certainly  reason  enough  for 
attempting  to  lessen  the  difficulties  and  smooth 
the  path  of  progress.  The  testimony  of  Dr. 
Carpenter  on  such  a  subject  will  be  readily 
accepted  as  deserving  of  attention.  He  says  : 


54  OJV  TEACHING. 

"  Those  '  strong-minded '  teachers  who  object  to 
these  modes  of  '  making  things  pleasant,'  as  an 
unworthy  and  undesirable '  weakness,'  are  ignor- 
ant that  in  this  stage  of  the  child-mind,  the 
Will — that  is,  the  power  of  self-control — is 
weak  ;  and  that  the  primary  object  of  Educa- 
tion is  to  encourage  and  strengthen,  not  to 
repress,  that  power.  Great  mistakes  are  often 
made  by  Parents  and  Teachers,  who,  being 
ignorant  of  this  fundamental  fact  of  child- 
nature,  treat  as  wilfulness  what  is  in  reality  just 
the  contrary  of  Will-fullness ;  being  the  direct 
result  of  the  want  of  Volitional  control  over  the 
automatic  activity  of  the  Brain.  To  punish  a 
child  for  the  want  of  obedience  which  it  has 
not  the  power  to  render,  is  to  inflict  an  injury 
which  may  almost  be  said  to  be  irreparable."  l 
Passing  from  involuntary  observation  and 
recollection,  children  must  make  a  beginning 
with  voluntary  concentration  of  attention. 
This  brings  us  to  the  regular  tasks,  appropri- 
ately so  named.  The  effort  of  preparation 
always  constitutes  a  task,  and  in  the  early 
periods  of  school  life  a  peculiarly  wearisome 
one.  Scholars  must  early  begin  the  work  of 
self-directed  effort,  success  in  which  must 
regulate  their  progress,  and  determine  their 
influence  through  subsequent  life.  The  greatest 
importance  attaches  to  the  judgment  which  a 
teacher  forms  of  the  best  methods  for  helping 
scholars  to  make  the  needful  effort.  This  is 
the  turning-point  where  it  is  decided  what  is 

1  Principles  of  Mental  Physiology,  by  Dr.  W.  B.  Car- 
penter, p.  134.     H.  S.  King  &  Co.,  London. 


INSTRUCTION.  55 

to  be  the  type  of  a  teacher's  success.  That  it 
is  part  of  the  teacher's  work  to  render  help  in 
this  matter  will  not,  I  think,  be  doubted.  In 
order  to  make  the  help  genuine,  however,  the 
aim  must  be  to  encourage  the  scholars  to  work 
for  themselves.  A  teacher  succeeds  in  this  in 
proportion  as  he  awakens  an  enthusiasm  for 
acquisition,  and  guides  and  satisfies  it  when 
awakened.  The  object  must  be  to  stimulate 
inquiry,  and  then  to  render  help  in  such  a  way 
as  to  encourage  it,  not  to  forestall  the  experi- 
ence of  delight  the  mind  has  in  discovering  for 
itself  what  can  be  known.  There  must  be 
among  the  scholars  not  only  a  thirst  for  know- 
ledge, but  a  sense  of  power  in  the  self-direction 
of  their  faculties.  This  involves  a  distinct  use 
of  voluntary  observation  and  reasoning,  not 
mere  exercise  of  memory.  No  doubt  all  chil- 
dren must  commit  to  memory  a  good  many 
things  they  do  not  rightly  understand. 
Such  storing  of  the  memory  belongs  less  or 
more  to  all  study.  There  is  force  here  in  what 
has  been  said  by  Mr.  Thring  :  "  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  with  the  young  memory 
is  strong,  and  logical  perception  weak.  All 
teaching  should  start  on  this  undoubted  fact. 
It  sounds  very  fascinating  to  talk  about  under- 
standing everything,  learning  everything  thoroughly, 
and  all  those  broad  phrases  which  plump  down 
on  a  difficulty  and  hide  it.  Put  in  practice, 
they  are  about  on  a  par  with  exhorting  a  boy 
to  mind  he  does  not  go  into  the  water  till  he 
can  swim."1  To  begin  on  the  supposition  that 
1  Education  and  School,  p.  196. 


56  ON  TEACHING. 

everything  is  to  be  explained,  would  indeed  be 
a  serious  aggravation  of  a  teacher's  difficulties. 
Still  it  is  true,  as  Professor  Hart,  of  Princeton, 
New  Jersey,  U.S.,  has  well  said  :  "  This  is  the 
true  mental  order  :  Knowledge  first,  and  then 
Memory.  Get  knowledge,  then  keep  it."1  The 
teacher  must  early  begin  the  work  of  explain- 
ing. His  success  as  a  teacher  will  depend 
largely  on  how  he  does  this.  Merely  to  keep 
on  repeating  formal  explanations  is  not  enough. 
What  is  to  be  sought  is  skill  in  suggesting 
points  of  thought,  in  questioning  so  as  to  lead 
the  understanding  on  the  way,  and  in  placing 
the  subject  of  study  in  a  variety  of  lights  and 
relations  which  may  interest  different  minds. 
All  these  will  be  gained  by  breaking  up  the 
lesson  with  clearness  into  its  component  parts, 
touching  upon  the  relations  of  the  parts,  and 
suggesting  associations  chiefly  of  the  nature  of 
similarity,  which  may  at  once  help  memory  and 
stimulate  thought. 

From  this  sketch  of  what  is  to  be  aimed 
at,  will  appear  what  I  understand  to  be  the 
teacher's  true  function.  It  is  to  teach,  and  not 
merely  to  hear  lessons  recited,  and  be  a  censor  of 
failures  and  a  marker  of  results.  Above  every- 
thing else,  he  is  to  teach.  Whatever  else  he 
does  is  to  be  subsidiary  to  this,  and  to  con- 
tribute to  its  efficiency.  In  their  own  place, 
hearing  and  censuring  and  marking  may  all 
contribute  to  his  end;  but  a  teacher  comes 
down  from  his  true  elevation,  and  lowers  the 

1  In  the  School-room :  Chapters  in  the  Philosophy  of  Edu- 
cation.   Philadelphia  :  Eldredge  and  Brother. 


INSTRUCTION.  57 

ideal  of  his  professional  work,  if  he  content 
himself  with  these  alone.  He  becomes  a 
drudge,  and  the  work  of  the  school  will  be 
drudgery  to  the  scholars.  He  becomes  a  task- 
master, and  the  scholars  will  soon  cease  to 
regard  him  in  any  other  light.  But  the  man 
who  wishes  to  teach,  and  not  merely  to  hear 
lessons,  must  put  himself  in  living  sympathy 
with  the  learners,  must  detect  their  difficulties, 
and  by  his  own  superior  knowledge  supply  the 
helps  which  contribute  to  the  activity  and 
interest  of  the  mind.  The  real  Teacher  is  not 
only  something  higher  than  a  task-master,  but 
something  greatly  higher  than  an  Examiner. 
The  true  teacher  may  feel  the  examiner's  work 
quite  irksome.  Leave  him  the  luxury  of  teach- 
ing, and  he  may  be  quite  willing  to  hand  over 
to  others  the  work  of  examination  or  inspec- 
tion. Such  a  teacher  will  be  ready  enough  to 
be  judged  by  results ;  nevertheless,  he  has  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  he  has  produced 
results  which  the  machinery  of  examination 
cannot  gauge.  The  radical  distinction  between 
teaching  and  examining  touches  very  closely 
on  all  that  concerns  success  in  professional 
work.  If  a  teacher  allow  himself  in  thought 
and  in  fact  to  take  the  attitude  of  simply 
judging  of  the  extent  of  preparation  made  by 
the  scholars  on  the  previous  evening,  he  deli- 
berately sacrifices  all  that  is  grandest  in  a 
teacher's  life. 

How,  then,  can  the  teacher  be  more  than  a 
simple  hearer  of  lessons?  How  can  he  help 
the  scholars  in  the  work  of  learning  ?  Before 


58  ON  TEACHING. 

attempting  an  answer,  there  are  some  pre- 
cautionary considerations  which  need  to  be 
present  to  the  teacher's  mind. 

The  children  are  not  to  be  over-tasked. 
Quantity  is  not  the  test  of  success.  Undue 
amount  may  peril  the  whole  results.  It  is 
in  every  sense  better  to  err  on  the  side  of  too 
short  lessons  than  on  the  side  of  great  length. 
There  is  in  our  day  a  vicious  appetite  for 
quantity,  which  leads  to  pernicious  results. 
If  a  child  must  face  an  array  of  lessons  which 
threatens  to  turn  the  whole  evening,  as  well  as 
the  day,  into  a  period  of  work,  there  is  a  dis- 
heartening sense  of  oppression  which  is  very 
unfavourable  to  progress.  Some  children  have, 
indeed,  an  avidity  for  learning,  which  gives 
them  no  sense  of  oppression  in  such  circum- 
stances; but  it  would  be  greatly  better  for 
themselves  and  for  their  parents,  and  for  the 
nation  too,  if  there  could  be  awakened  in  them, 
and  regularly  gratified,  some  avidity  for  play. 
As  a  general  rule,  it  may  be  taken  as  beyond 
dispute  that,  for  educational  results,  it  is  unde- 
sirable that  the  whole  evening  be  set  apart 
to  lesson-learning.  Responsibility  for  home 
arrangements  devolves  on  the  parents  or  guar- 
dians of  the  children ;  but  the  responsibility  of 
adjusting  the  task  to  the  recognised  capacity 
and  advancement  of  the  scholars  rests  on  their 
teacher.  Many  of  the  perplexities  and  trials 
which  fall  upon  both  teachers  and  scholars  are 
the  result  of  want  of  due  consideration  as  to 
the  amount  of  work  assigned.  If  in  the  hurry 
of  closing  up  for  the  day,  a  teacher,  without 


INSTRUCTION.  59 

much  consideration,  specify  work  more  extended 
than  ordinary,  the  result  will  be  a  night  of 
gloom  for  the  scholars,  and  thereafter  a  day  of 
perplexity  for  himself.  In  such  circumstances, 
the  vexations  of  teaching  are  self-made  troubles. 

It  must  further  be  remembered  that  if  pupils 
become  addicted  to  partial  preparation,  and 
grow  familiar  with  wriggling  through  the  day's 
work  in  haphazard  fashion,  they  are  so  far 
demoralized.  Their  standard  of  school  require- 
ment is  lowered.  Preparation  is  less  a  matter 
of  concern  to  them  than  it  should  be.  Such  a 
result  is  to  be  guarded  against  as  earnestly  as 
a  break-down  in  discipline.  On  the  same 
grounds,  it  is  to  be  desired  that  parents  should 
cease  from  regarding  a  school  as  really  efficient 
simply  because  a  great  quantity  of  work  is 
pressed  through.  The  test  of  efficiency  is  not 
found  in  the  amount  of  work  done,  but  in  the 
thoroughness  with  which  the  work  attempted 
has  been  performed. 

For  Teachers  in  our  Primary  Schools  it  is 
specially  important  to  consider  the  amount  of 
home-preparation  which  may  reasonably  be 
expected.  It  seems  to  me  altogether  unlikely 
that  satisfactory  advance  can  be  made  in  the 
work  of  education  through  means  of  these 
schools,  unless  school-work  be  largely  planned 
upon  the  admission  that  only  slight  home- 
preparation  can  be  expected.  A  large  propor- 
tion of  the  children  are  so  situated  at  home 
that  preparation  of  lessons  must  be  very  slight, 
and  often  completely  neglected.  It  seems  un- 
wise to  shun  this  admission;  we  must  suit 


60  ON  TEACHING. 

ourselves  to  the  existing  state  of  matters. 
Teaching  must  proceed  largely  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  scholars  are  practically  commenc- 
ing the  learning  of  the  lesson  when  their 
teacher  begins  class-work.  I  do  not  incline 
so  to  view  a  teacher's  work  as  to  regard  this 
position  of  affairs  as  occasion  for  special  con- 
dolence. On  the  contrary,  I  favour  the 
opinion,  that  in  all  cases  it  would  be  well  if 
the  classes  in  which  primary  instruction  is 
communicated  were  conducted  on  the  avowal 
that  comparatively  little  is  expected  in  the 
form  of  home-preparation.  Even  if  lesson- 
learning  were  entirely  restricted  to  school 
hours  for  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  school 
life,  I  think  we  should  gain  and  not  lose  in 
educational  results.  In  the  interests  of  health 
and  physical  development  it  is  to  be  desired 
that  the  brain  should  not  be  subjected  to  con- 
tinuous work  for  more  than  a  few  hours  of 
each  day.  As  far  as  possible,  we  should  guard 
against  the  excitement  of  class- work  flowing  in 
upon  the  homes  of  the  children,  and  even  upon 
their  sleeping  hours.  At  present  we  have  too 
much  experience  of  uneasy  restlessness  of  brain 
among  young  children.  In  the  interests  of 
the  teachers  of  our  primary  schools,  burdened 
as  they  are  with  the  extra  strain  of  maintain- 
ing the  attention  of  large  numbers  of  very 
young  children,  I  would  wish  to  see  a  saving 
of  strength  in  teaching.  Escape  from  the 
irritation  experienced  on  account  of  the  dis- 
covery of  inadequate  preparation  would  be  a 
considerable  help  in  this  respect.  There  would 


INSTRUCTION.  61 

be  less  fretting  for  a  teacher  (and  it  is  fretting 
which  most  quickly  exhausts  the  strength),  by 
deliberately  undertaking  the  work  of  teaching 
the  lesson  from  the  foundation.  There  would 
also  be  a  higher  training  in  the  real  work  of 
teaching.  Mere  lesson-hearing  is  a  compara- 
tively slight  and  commonplace  exercise ;  but  to 
lead  the  young  mind  into  the  knowledge  to  be 
understood  and  remembered  is  an  exercise  in 
every  way  worthy  of  large  knowledge  and 
much  skill. 

To  the  main  question  :  How  is  the  teacher 
to  lend  help  to  the  pupils  in  the  learning  of 
their  lessons  1  The  most  important  part  of 
the  reply  is,  that  all  hearing  of  lessons  should 
be  designedly  managed  in  such  a  way  as  to 
contribute  towards  a  better  learning  of  these 
lessons.  The  best  prepared  child  has  still 
much  to  learn  from  the  lesson ;  many  of  the 
children  are  likely  to  have  the  greater  part  to 
learn ;  but  still  more  importance  attaches  to 
the  consideration  that  the  work  of  learning 
will  proceed  with  increasing  alacrity  in  pro- 
portion as  the  intelligence  of  the  children  is 
called  into  exercise.  All  efficient  teaching 
must,  indeed,  afford  a  model  of  the  best  methods 
of  learning.  What  all  pupils  require  in  a 
teacher  is  the  suggestiveness  which  brings  the 
understanding  to  the  aid  of  the  memory.  He 
must  contribute  for  their  help  the  appliances 
which  superior  intelligence  and  experience  in 
the  work  of  instruction  suggest  for  facilitating 
acquirement. 

First  in  importance  for  this  end  is  the  use 


62  02V  TEACHING. 

of  ANALYSIS.  If  learners  are  shown  the  true 
methods  for  reducing  difficult  combinations  to 
their  elements,  many  difficulties  are  taken  out 
of  the  way.  Mastery  of  the  remaining  diffi- 
culties will  then  prove  a  help  for  subsequent 
effort.  This  work  of  analysis  is  greatly  sim- 
plified in  later  stages,  if  progress  in  elemen- 
tary instruction  has  been  by  advancement  on 
a  careful  system  from  the  simplest  elements  of 
language  to  the  more  complex  combinations. 
Intelligence  is  the  avenue  to  memory.  A  pas- 
sage may  be  accurately  and  rapidly  read  or 
recited,  and  yet  not  in  any  proper  sense  learned. 
The  contribution  to  the  real  education  of  the 
child  is  comparatively  small,  unless  the  under- 
standing is  called  into  exercise.  In  education 
what  maybe  described  as  a  "local"  or  "verbal" 
memory  is  of  slight  influence  in  comparison 
with  an  intelligent  or  rationalizing  memory. 
Association  by  reference  to  locality  or  verbal 
sequence  is  a  temporary  coherence,  which 
generally  breaks  up  when  the  occasion  for  it 
is  gone.  But  if  facts  are  contemplated,  and 
truths  are  understood,  memory  keeps  what  it 
receives,  and  intelligence  begins  to  utilize  what 
it  has  gathered.  It  is  therefore  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  analysis  become  a  familiar 
instrument  in  all  educational  work.  The 
ordinary  round  of  school  duty  gives  constant 
opportunity  for  its  use.  In  spelling,  for 
example,  to  break  up  a  word  into  its  component 
parts  is  to  bring  the  understanding  into  play, 
affording  memory  the  aid  it  requires  for  ac- 
curately retaining  and  recalling  that  word. 


INSTRUCTION.  63 

This  is  the  only  really  efficient  protection 
against  bad  spelling.  So  it  is,  most  plainly, 
with  reading.  Accurate  reading  of  a  passage 
which  is  not  fully  understood  is  simply  im- 
possible. Daily  familiarity  with  the  analysis 
of  a  few  of  the  longest  sentences  in  the  lesson 
is  the  simplest  and  surest  method  for  attaining 
just  appreciation  of  punctuation,  intonation, 
and  emphasis.  Again,  acquiring  the  grammar 
of  any  language  is  certain  to  be  drudgery  if 
assigned  merely  to  "  word-memory,"  with  the 
help  of  as  much  patience  as  a  child  can  com- 
mand. The  same  task  will  have  sources  of 
pleasure  connected  with  it  if  memory  has 
called  to  its  service  even  an  occasional  play  of 
intelligence.  The  teaching  of  grammar  is 
indeed  a  fair  test  of  teaching  power.  Its  re- 
quirements fully  illustrate  the  value  of  analysis. 
Of  all  the  forms  of  misery  connected  with 
school  life,  there  is  nothing  more  vexatious 
than  the  sight  of  a  child  entangled  in  the  intri- 
cacies of  grammar,  with  nothing  but  the  dis- 
agreeable remembrance  of  tiresome  tasks,  and 
nothing  in  store  but  increased  bewilderment, 
in  absence  of  intelligent  appreciation  of  what 
had  gone  before.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  in 
multitudes  of  cases  parents  can  render  no  help 
to  their  children  in  such  studies,  there  is 
urgent  need  for  constant  use  of  analysis,  how- 
ever slow  the  progress  may  be.  Sure  under- 
standing, however  slow  it  be,  is  progress ; 
rapidity  with  uncertainty  is  progress  of  the 
delusive  sort,  the  semblance  without  the  reality. 
There  is  no  great  wisdom  in  a  rapid  dash  into 


64  O.V  TEACHING. 

a  tangled,  thorny  thicket,  two  miles  deep.  A 
few  minutes  spent  in  seeking  a  pathway  may 
save  hours  of  laborious  and  useless  struggle. 
To  make  grammar  something  else  than  a 
bewildering  thicket  is  the  teacher's  part.  It 
is,  indeed,  more  than  the  most  careful  teacher 
can  hope  for,  that  none  of  his  scholars  shall 
have  a  task  of  bewilderment.  But  the  aim  of 
the  teacher  must  be  to  secure  that  the  great 
majority  in  each  class  advance  clearly  together 
in  the  understanding  of  what  is  being  taught. 
It  certainly  is  not  enough  that  the  sharpest 
children  make  head-way,  while  the  majority 
get  into  confusion.  Such  a  result  is  failure, 
however  well  the  upper  marks  appear  when  the 
test  comes. 

The  use  of  the  eye  to  aid  the  understand- 
ing is  of  great  importance  in  all  analysis. 
For  this  reason  the  black-board  presents  an 
invaluable  auxiliary.  Its  use  may  seem  to 
consume  time  ;  in  reality  it  greatly  saves  time. 
What  is  made  visible  will  be  understood  much 
more  rapidly  than  what  is  merely  explained  in 
words.  A  word  of  several  syllables  written 
out  on  the  board  in  separate  parts  will  much 
more  easily  be  made  familiar  than  if  it  be  only 
looked  at  as  printed  in  the  ordinary  lesson. 
Familiarity  with  the  analysis  of  words  will  soon 
be  gained  in  this  way,  rendering  continued 
use  of  the  board  unnecessary,  and  setting  it  free 
for  use  at  some  other  point  of  difficulty.  There 
is  no  need  to  continue  illustrations  when  writing 
mainly  for  those  who  are  professional  teachers. 
The  value  of  the  black-board  is  not  likely  to  be 


INSTRUCTION.  65 

overlooked.  The  more  a  teacher  can  avail  him- 
self of  all  the  avenues  to  the  mind,  the  more 
efficient  his  teaching  must  become. 

Next  to  analysis  as  an  instrument  of  instruc- 
tion comes  skilful  COMBINATION.  When  pupils 
are  encouraged  to  make  for  themselves  fresh 
combinations  of  things  already  known,  addi- 
tional progress  is  certain.  Variety  of  exercise 
in  this  way  is  as  attractive  to  children  as  many  of 
their  games.  If,  when  such  exercises  are  given, 
the  rivalry  involved  in  taking  places  were  discon- 
tinued, and  all  extraneous  excitement  avoided, 
the  play  of  intelligence  would  bring  an  ample 
reward.  I  plead  for  discontinuance  of  rivalry 
in  such  exercises,  because,  while  it  stimulates 
some,  in  other  cases  it  hinders  and  even  stops 
the  action  of  intelligence.  If  any  teacher 
doubt  this,  he  may  subject  a  class  to  experi- 
ment by  watching  the  faces  of  the  pupils,  and 
next  asking  from  the  child  who  has  been  cor- 
rected an  explanation  of  the  reason  for  the 
correction.  Hurry  in  such  things  is  an  injury, 
and  so  is  all  commingling  of  antagonistic 
motives.  All  fear  .hinders  intellectual  action, 
and  the  fear  of  wounded  ambition  offers  no 
exception  to  the  rule.  The  fear  of  being  pun- 
ished is  more  seriously  detrimental  than  any 
form  of  fear  which  can  be  stirred.  It  is  essen- 
tially antagonistic  to  the  action  of  intelligence. 
Let  mind  have  free  play.  There  is  hardly  a 
better  exercise  for  a  class  than  that  of  allow- 
ing a  scholar  to  write  out  on  the  black-board 
the  tense  of  a  verb,  or  any  other  portion  of 
grammar ;  requiring  the  others  to  offer  correc- 
£ 


66  ON  TEACHING. 

tions  of  what  has  been  written ;  interlin- 
ing the  corrections  as  suggested;  and  then 
inquiring  into  their  warrant.  Hitter,  the  cele- 
brated geographer  of  Germany,  pointed  to  the 
value  of  skilful  combination  in  the  suggestion 
he  made  as  to  teaching  geography.  He  pro- 
posed the  combination  of  history  and  geogra- 
phy. He  recommended  that  an  outline  map 
should  be  drawn,  the  mountains  traced,  and 
the  courses  of  the  rivers ;  and  that  localities 
should  be  marked  in  connexion  with  events  of 
historic  importance,  or  with  information  con- 
cerning the  products  of  the  soil  or  of  manu- 
facture. The  suggestion  is  a  valuable  example 
of  the  type  of  combinations  which  must  greatly 
facilitate  education  and  deepen  its  interest. 
The  learning  of  geography  is  of  comparatively 
little  value  if  it  be  nothing  more  than  lists  of 
names  in  moderate  doses,  with  the  understand- 
ing that  they  belong  to  England  or  to  France. 
But  if  a  teacher  roughly  sketch  an  outline  map 
upon  the  board,  and  bid  one  after  another  of  the 
pupils  fill  in  a  part  of  it,  and  then  unroll  the 
printed  map,  the  impression  upon  all  will  be 
greatly  deepened.  History  would  undoubtedly 
gain  greatly  in  interest  if  outstanding  events 
were  associated  with  map-drawing.  The  Ger- 
mans have  advanced  beyond  most  nations  in 
teaching  geography.  Government  instructions 
may  lie  behind  this,  and  perhaps  even  military 
reasons  may  lie  at  the  back  of  these  instruc- 
tions, but  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  fact. 
During  the  Franco-Prussian  war  it  was  said  the 
German  soldiers  knew  the  geography  of  France 


INSTRUCTION.  67 

better  than  the  French  themselves.  Special 
education  for  the  army  is,  however,  provided 
in  Germany  to  an  extent  as  yet  unknown  in 
any  other  country.  The  German  soldier  is  not 
left  merely  to  become  familiar  with  drill ;  he 
has  regular  school  training,  as  well  as  military 
exercise.  But  the  school  children  are  unusually 
well  instructed  in  geography,  with  minute 
topographical  information.  When  resident  in 
Berlin,  I  had  the  opportunity  of  putting  a 
variety  of  questions  to  a  smart  boy  of  thirteen 
years  of  age — a  favourable  example  of  the 
school,  I  should  think — and  found  that  he  had 
a  degree  of  topographical  knowledge  rarely 
possessed  by  those  who  have  not  travelled  in  a 
country.  The  boy  could  describe  the  whole 
aspect  of  the  country  around  Edinburgh  as  not 
one-third  of  the  boys  of  Edinburgh  could  have 
done.  It  may  be,  however,  that  the  influence 
of  Bitter  in  Berlin  had  something  to  do  with 
proficiency  of  geographical  instruction  in  that 
city.  I  have  referred  more  particularly  to 
grammar  and  geography  here,  for  they  afford 
the  most  obvious  illustrations  of  the  value  of 
suggested  combinations.  The  general  principle 
to  be  applied  in  all  departments  of  instruction 
is  this — Education  is  invariably  promoted  by 
the  gathering  of  suitable  associations  around 
the  subject  of  study. 

As  auxiliary  to  these  methods  of  instruction 
I  venture  to  place  A  FREE  AND    FRIENDLY 

MANNER  OF  COMMUNICATION  BETWEEN  TEACHER 

AND  SCHOLARS.     This  greatly  stimulates   the 
interest  and  enthusiasm  of  the  pupils.     There 


68  ON  TEACHING. 

is,  indeed,  a  familiarity  which  is  destructive  of 
discipline,  and  quite  unfavourable  to  applica- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  scholar.  This  is  so 
clearly  recognised  in  the  profession,  that  there 
is  hardly  need  for  precaution  against  misunder- 
standing. The  communication  here  referred 
to  is  that  which  has  purely  educational  ends  in 
view.  What  I  point  to  is  far  removed  from 
everything  which  would  favour  undue  famili- 
arity. It  even  presupposes  the  impossibility  of 
it.  Anything  which  interferes  with  the  simple 
relation  of  teacher  and  taught  is  a  hindrance. 
What  is  to  be  commended  is  freedom  of  com- 
munication exclusively  for  purposes  of  instruc- 
tion, and  connected  with  the  matter  in  hand, 
as  the  sole  attraction  for  the  time.  It  is  a 
freedom  which,  instead  of  being  unfavourable 
to  discipline,  must  tend  to  establish  it.  What 
is  mainly  to  be  desired  is  free  communication 
of  difficulties  from  the  scholar  to  the  teacher, 
as  there  should  be  full  instruction  from  the 
teacher  to  the  scholar.  There  is  an  exercise 
of  authority  by  a  teacher  which  utterly  ignores 
and  frowns  upon  any  tendency  to  direct  in- 
quiries to  him.  He  will  question  in  order  to 
ascertain  what  the  scholars  have  learned ;  but 
they  must  not  question  him,  in  order  to 
learn  what  they  have  failed  to  understand. 
Everything  is  made  to  depend  upon  the 
thoroughness  of  the  teaching  at  every  stage ; 
and  this  again  depends  upon  the  teacher's  own 
reflection,  without  any  sure  discovery  of  his 
pupils'  need.  To  every  teacher  such  a  method 
is  inadequate,  because  insecure.  The  most 


INSTRUCTION.  69 

experienced  teacher  will  allow  that  he  needs  to 
be  helped  to  the  discovery  of  his  pupils' 
difficulties.  But  if  a  teacher  cultivate  a  dis- 
tant reserve  he  cannot  have  the  help  which 
only  the  scholars  can  give.  The  instruction 
must  roll  on.  If  the  scholars  catch  all  they 
need,  so  far  well ;  if  they  fail  to  understand  all 
that  is  expressed,  there  is  no  help  for  it.  If 
such  a  system  be  preferred  under  the  appre- 
hension that  anything  else  would  weaken 
discipline,  there  is  either  a  consciousness  of 
weakness  in  the  teacher,  or  else  a  want  of 
thorough  reflection  on  the  necessary  conditions 
of  school  discipline.  If  a  scholar  may  not 
freely  inquire  during  some  suitable  opportunity 
afforded  for  the  purpose,  but  must  depend 
entirely  upon  catching  the  full  meaning  of  all 
that  has  been  said,  the  relation  between  teacher 
and  scholar  is  constrained  and  unhealthy. 
There  is  quite  enough  disadvantage  connected 
with  the  incessant  change  of  places,  making  it 
a  pupil's  interest  to  conceal  his  ignorance, 
without  anything  else  being  allowed  to  increase 
that  disadvantage.  I  do  not  undervalue  com- 
petition among  the  children  in  the  same  class, 
nor  do  I  think  we  can  wisely  dispense  with 
the  stimulating  power  it  involves ;  but  it  is  an 
obvious  misfortune  that,  where  all  goes  by 
expressed  knowledge,  a  premium  is  put  on 
concealment  of  ignorance,  which  is  apt  to 
establish  concealment  as  a  settled  article  in 
the  policy  of  school  life.  In  view  of  this 
danger,  I  am  increasingly  impressed  with 
the  need  for  opportunities  for  free  com- 


70  ON  TEACHING. 

munication  at  times  when  the  confession  of 
ignorance  may  be  specially  encouraged.  The 
spirit  of  inquiry,  so  valuable  in  all  depart- 
ments of  education,  could  be  greatly  stimulated 
in  this  way.  In  the  school,  as  everywhere  else, 
we  want  to  escape  routine.1  Neither  teacher 
nor  scholar  should  feel  that  the  procedure  each 
day  is  simply  a  repetition  of  the  procedure  of 
the  preceding  day.  A  sense  of  monotony  is  to 
be  dreaded  as  one  should  the  nightmare.  If 
scholars  are  shy  to  speak  out,  as  under  our 
system  they  are  apt  to  be,  deliberate  attempts 
should  be  made  to  draw  them  out,  and  ascer- 
tain what  they  still  need  to  learn.  It  is  quite 
essential  to  success  that  it  should  be  somehow 
ascertained  how  much  the  children  have  got 
only  by  rote  without  understanding,  how  much 
they  have  misunderstood,  and  what  they  have 
never  thought  about  which  should  have  engaged 
their  attention.  There  is  nothing  which  more 
impresses  one  in  visiting  the  public  schools  of 
the  United  States  of  America  than  the  unre- 
strained freedom  with  which  the  pupil  makes 
an  appeal  to  the  teacher,  in  the  assurance  of 
that  appeal  being  encouraged  and  met  as  far 
as  possible  in  the  circumstances.  This  feature 
struck  me  as  a  general  characteristic  in  all  the 

1  Dr.  Noah  Porter,  President  of  Yale  College,  Con- 
necticut, U.S.,  in  a  series  of  articles  in  The  College  Courant 
of  Yale,  writes  upon  "special  defects  in  the  operation  ot 
modern  schools."  He  signalizes  these  two  :  "  The  spirit  of 
formalism  and  routine  which  has  grown  up  in  our  modern 
schools,"  and  "  the  tendency  to  stimulate  to  excess  the 
spontaneous  or  verbal  memory."  We  may  take  warning 
from  American  experience. 


INSTRUCTION.  71 

schools  I  visited,  from  the  primary  to  the 
normal  schools.  The  pupils  regard  this  as  a 
natural  feature  of  school  life.  I  remember  on 
one  occasion  entering  the  class-room  of  a  teacher 
of  physiology  in  one  of  the  normal  schools 
when  he  had  just  finished  the  lecture  for  the 
day.  He  was  saying  to  the  members  of  his 
class,  "I  shall  examine  on  this  lecture  to- 
morrow ;  just  let  me  see  if  your  notes  are 
accurate."  One  pupil  at  once  asked  what  had 
been  said  as  to  the  average  weight  of  the 
human  skull.  The  answer  was  immediately 
given.  Another  question  followed,  and  another, 
until  all  were  satisfied,  after  which  the  few 
closing  minutes  of  the  hour  were  spent  in  sup- 
plementing the  lecture  with  such  remarks  as 
the  questions  seemed  to  suggest.  This  is  only 
an  example  of  what  is  common  in  American 
schools.  I  must  express  my  admiration  of  this 
characteristic.  I  am  averse  to  "  cut  and  dry 
theories "  as  to  the  best  possible  ways  of 
teaching.  I  would  have  each  teacher  observe 
and  reflect  for  himself;  but  by  all  means  save 
us  from  routine.  A  teacher  needs  knowledge 
of  human  nature,  and  he  needs  freedom  of 
action  to  avail  himself,  without  reserve,  of  all 
the  varied  resources  fitted  to  awaken  attention 
and  stimulate  mental  activity. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER. 

IN  the  previous  chapter  attention  has  been 
directed  exclusively  to  the  development 
of  the  intellectual  powers.  I  proceed  now  to 
speak  of  the  regulation  of  the  emotional  nature, 
— the  government  of  all  the  springs  of  action. 
This  brings  into  view  the  teacher's  part  in 
aiding  his  pupils  to  use  intelligence  for  the 
guidance  of  their  conduct.  I  have  already 
indicated  the  grounds  on  which  I  conceive 
that  this  department  of  oversight  and  training 
belongs  to  the  teacher.  He  is  an  instructor 
in  the  widest  sense.  To  him  is  intrusted  the 
development  of  the  whole  nature,  in  so  far  as 
that  is  found  to  be  needful  for  school  discip- 
line, and  possible  through  means  of  it.  The 
two  departments,  instruction  and  training,  are 
indeed  quite  distinct,  and  admit  of  separate 
treatment.  But  both  ends  must  be  sought  in 
the  midst  of  the  same  school  exercises.  From 
the  one  point  of  view,  the  teacher  seeks  to 
make  his  scholars  observant,  reflective,  well- 

72 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        73 

informed,  and  prompt  in  the  use  of  their 
faculties.  From  the  other  he  seeks  to  make 
them  upright,  generous,  and  brave.  The  re- 
lative importance  of  these  two  ends  will  be  at 
once  recognised.  As  meanness  of  disposition 
is  worse  than  slowness  of  intellect ;  as  selfish- 
ness is  worse  than  defective  memory ;  as 
cowardice  is  worse  than  ignorance, — special 
importance  is  to  be  attached  to  the  depart- 
ment of  moral  training.  The  teacher  cannot, 
indeed,  raise  such  training  to  the  position  of 
primary  importance,  since  all  the  school  ar- 
rangements are  made  expressly  for  instruction 
in  the  ordinary  branches  of  knowledge.  But 
there  is  no  need  for  this,  since  moral  train- 
ing is  gained  not  so  much  by  formal  incul- 
cation of  duty  as  by  practice  in  well-doing 
throughout  the  common  engagements  of  life.  If, 
however,  moral  training  do  not  expressly  engage 
the  attention  of  the  scholars  as  a  subject  of 
study,  it  is  to  be  continually  the  subject  of 
consideration  with  the  teacher.  It  makes  no 
difference  whether  it  be  grammar,  or  geography, 
or  history  which  is  being  taught,  the  forma- 
tion of  character  goes  on  with  equal  facility. 
So  generally  is  this  recognised  in  the  pro- 
fession, that  Mr.  Currie  has  set  this  down  as 
his  first  statement  in  his  valuable  work  on 
Education  : — "  Education  comprises  all  the 
influences  which  go  to  form  the  character."1 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten 
that  it  is  much  easier  to  instruct  than  to  train. 
The   conditions  under  which  these  two   pro- 
1  Principle  and  Practice  of  Common  School  Education. 


74  02V  TEACHING. 

ceed  differ  greatly.  If  a  man  be  himself  in- 
structed, and  if  he  only  explain  things  with  a 
fair  amount  of  interest,  he  is  sure  of  success  in 
communicating  information;  but  character  is 
not  formed  thus.  You  may  state  and  enforce 
moral  law  with  the  greatest  clearness,  without 
securing  conformity  to  it.  What  is  wanted  is 
not  explaining  so  much  as  warning  and 
encouraging.  Thus  it  happens  that,  while  we 
may  instruct  in  the  mass,  in  the  work  of 
training  we  need  much  more  carefully  to  dis- 
tinguish individuals. 

For  success  in  training,  the  first  requisite 
is  intelligent  sympathy  with  the  children  in  the 
difficulties  they  experience  while  attempting  to 
control  their  conduct.  Before  a  true  and  in- 
fluential sympathy  is  possible,  the  teacher 
must  observe  peculiarities  of  disposition.  It 
will  thus  appear  how  essential  it  is  to  dis- 
criminate carefully,  in  order  to  make  a  satis- 
factory beginning.  At  the  same  time  the 
general  truth  must  be  recognised  and  applied 
for  the  guidance  of  our  procedure,  that  a  child's 
ruling  dispositions  are  as  truly  inherited  as  his 
intellectual  powers  or  his  bodily  constitution. 
This  will  not  be  disputed,  and  therefore  I  do  not 
insist  upon  it ;  but  the  consideration  must 
have  a  directly  practical  bearing  upon  school 
government.  If  it  be  not  uniformly  recognised 
and  acted  upon,  justice  cannot  be  done  to  the 
children,  nor  can  sagacity  have  proper  exercise 
in  dealing  with  them.  One  child  is  naturally 
irritable,  another  is  naturally  amiable.  The 
one  is  not  to  be  blamed,  nor  is  the  other  to  be 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER        75 

praised,  for  what  he  has  inherited.  If  under 
sudden  provocation  the  one  shows  a  sensitiveness 
which  the  other  does  not  discover,  no  marvel. 
The  result  is  exactly  that  to  be  expected  from 
the  different  natures  of  the  two.  What  is  of 
chief  interest  to  the  educationist  is,  that  the 
irritable  child  can  gain  the  mastery  over  the 
ruling  tendency  of  his  nature,  and  can  be  helped 
in  striving  for  the  victory.  But  it  is  unjust  to 
punish  a  child  because  he  has  inherited  an 
irritable  disposition.  In  many  cases  it  is  no 
less  so  to  punish  him  because  that  disposition 
has  suddenly  started  into  activity  under  pro- 
vocation. One  child  is  naturally  timid,  another 
naturally  rash.  It  is  unreasonable  to  blame 
the  children,  or  to  do  anything  but  consider 
what  are  the  special  difficulties  of  each,  and 
how  best  each  can  be  helped  in  overcoming 
these.  The  one  has  inherited  a  highly  sensi- 
tive nervous  constitution,  which  is  readily 
excited  by  the  slightest  changes,  and  which 
throws  in  upon  the  mind  the  agitation  originat- 
ing in  the  organism.  To  punish  such  a  child 
for  his  timidity,  or  mock  him  on  account  of  it, 
is  a  grievous  practical  blunder,  which  indicates 
want  of  knowledge  and  reflection  as  to  the 
necessary  conditions  of  moral  training.  If 
a  teacher  is  not  to  run  the  risk  of  inflicting 
life-long  injury  upon  one  intrusted  to  his  care, 
he  must  have  some  clearly  defined  plan  in 
harmony  with  the  known  laws  of  mind,  suitable 
for  allaying  fear  and  promoting  courage. 
Another  child  is  naturally  impulsive.  The 
former  thinks  and  shrinks.  This  child  does 


76  ON  TEACHING. 

not  shrink,  because  he  does  not  take  time  to 
think ;  he  is  unconscious  of  the  restraints 
arising  from  a  nervously  sensitive  organism. 
He  is  not  readily  checked  by  rising  fears; 
his  misfortune  is  that  he  has  not  enough  of 
fear.  He  is  like  the  youth  in  the  fairy  tale, 
who  had  never  learned  to  "  shiver  and  shake," 
consequently,  he  has  an  unenviable  facility  in 
knocking  his  head  against  posts,  which  could 
easily  be  shunned.  We  must  take  this  child  as 
he  is,  and,  understanding  his  difficulty,  deal  with 
him  in  such  a  manner  as  to  promote  thoughtful- 
ness  and  caution,  by  all  means  avoiding  anything 
which  would  tempt  him  to  extremes. 

To  draw  the  distinction  between  nature  and 
character  is  essential  for  an  educationist. 
Every  child  has  in  his  nature  certain  disposi- 
tions to  be  vanquished.  These  cannot  go  to 
form  any  part  in  a  good  character.  I  do  not 
here  go  into  ethical  distinctions,  which  are  not 
required  for  my  present  purpose.  The  fact  to 
which  I  am  pointing  is  clearly  recognised,  and 
must  have  attention.  It  goes  far  to  explain 
the  difficulty  of  the  teacher's  task,  and  to 
account  for  the  perplexity  often  experienced  in 
deciding  upon  the  wisest  mode  of  treatment. 
It  is  much  more  difficult  to  carry  through  a 
wise  repression  than  to  promote  healthy  de- 
velopment of  a  natural  power.  The  process  is 
a  delicate  one,  requiring  careful  discrimation 
as  to  circumstances.  It  is  here  that  the  largest 
demand  falls  upon  the  sagacity  of  parents  and 
teachers.  To  draft  a  code  of  rules  sufficient 
to  regulate  procedure  in  all  cases  is  simply 
impossible. 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        77 

Something  is  done,  however,  towards  regula- 
tion of  our  procedure  in  this  perplexing  depart- 
ment if  we  mark  with  exactness  THE  LIMITS  OF 
A  TEACHER'S  POWER  IN  TRAINING.  He  cannot 
form  the  character,  but  can  only  aid  the  pupil 
in  efforts  to  form  his  own  character.  This 
consideration  is  of  vital  importance  in  the 
determination  of  method.  Character  implies 
established  habits  of  self-government.  Its 
formation  is  thus  essentially  a  personal  matter. 
Whatever  be  its  type,  it  is  the  result  of  habits 
voluntarily  cherished.  So  long  as  the  pre- 
dominant natural  dispositions  sway  the  conduct 
unchecked,  moral  character  is  unformed.  The 
beginning  of  its  formation  can  be  traced  from 
the  time  that  there  are  signs  of  voluntary 
restriction  and  regulation  of  these  dispositions. 
Whenever  a  degree  of  self-control  appears,  it 
indicates  the  sway  of  intelligence.  Character, 
whether  good  or  bad,  is  in  no  case  the  result 
of  involuntary  tendency.  Its  formation  in  a 
good  and  healthy  type  is  a  most  delicate  pro- 
cess, needing  to  be  continued  through  many 
years.  Nothing  is  more  likely  to  injure,  by 
retarding,  or  it  may  even  be  perverting,  the 
process,  than  efforts  after  coercion.  Will-power 
must  regulate  the  course  of  conduct,  and  the 
only  safe  stimulants  of  the  action  of  will  are 
intelligence  within,  and  the  encouragement  of 
intelligent  sympathy  from  superiors  who  have 
already  won  respect. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  children  are  greatly  hindered  or  aided  in 
the  formation  of  a  good  character  by  the  influ- 


78  ON  TEACHING. 

ence  of  those  around  them.  If  their  seniors 
make  light  of  moral  distinctions,  they  will  do 
so  too.  If  their  companions  are  selfish,  and 
unchecked  in  that  tendency,  they  too  will 
begin  to  give  way  to  the  same  hideous  dis- 
position. There  is  in  human  nature  enough 
of  the  desire  for  self-gratification,  and  a  suffi- 
cient sense  of  the  irksomeness  of  self-restraint, 
to  favour  ready  yielding  to  the  easier  way  of 
life.  But  self-denial  is  the  necessary  condition 
of  self-government.  The  effort  it  involves, 
and  the  pain  connected  with  that  effort,  try  us 
most  at  the  commencement.  But  both  the 
effort  and  the  pain  will  be  considerably  lessened 
if  seniors  give  encouragement  and  companions 
share  the  difficulties.  In  this  way,  all  the 
order  and  discipline  of  the  school  should  sup- 
port the  virtues  and  promote  their  growth.1 

This,  however,  is  still  but  a  part  of  what  a 
teacher  can  do  towards  the  formation  of  a 
sound  moral  character  in  the  pupils.  The 
discipline  maintained  in  school  provides  favour- 
able circumstances  in  the  midst  of  which  good 
intentions  can  be  carried  out.  But  favourable 
circumstances  do  not  in  themselves  afford  all 
that  is  requisite.  Dismiss  the  best  disciplined 
class,  and  observe  the  moral  characteristics  of 
the  children  when  they  are  free  to  act  accord- 
ing to  inclination.  It  will  be  found  that  there 
is  considerable  diversity  among  them,  and  that 
some  very  readily  inflict  wrong  upon  their 
companions.  Discipline  is  the  product  of 

1  Dr.  Donaldson  has  well  said  that  the  teacher's  function 
is  "to  make  good  citizens." — Lects.  on  Education,  p.  30. 
So  also,  Mr.  Laurie,  in  Primary  Education,  p.  5. 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        79 

authority.  Character  does  not  grow  by  mere 
force  of  authority.  There  is  even  peril  to 
character  in  the  constant  strain  of  authority, 
which  demands  unquestioning  submission  on 
pain  of  punishment.  Obedience  in  such  a 
case  is  often  reluctantly  rendered,  and  reluc- 
tant submission  is  apt  to  be  unfavourable  to 
character.  A  rooted  aversion  to  restraint  is 
then  cherished,  which  carries  in  it  serious  fore- 
bodings of  evil.  A  child  must  be  taught  to 
walk  alone,  else  a  reckless  career  may  follow 
escape  from  the  hated  restraint.  The  most 
perfect  form  of  drill  cannot  establish  moral 
character ;  the  best  educational  machinery  is 
unequal  to  the  task.  Circumstances,  even  the 
most  favourable,  cannot  produce  the  character 
which  must  itself  be  superior  to  circumstances. 
Character  must  grow  from  within,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  invariable  laws  of  mind. 

To  render  aid  in  the  formation  of  character, 
a  teacher  must  INDIVIDUALIZE.  One  hundred 
children  may  be  instructed  in  the  same  branch 
of  knowledge  at  once,  but  development  of 
character  cannot  proceed  in  this  way.  The 
prevailing  dispositions  and  tendencies  of  each 
scholar  must  be  ascertained.  Ignorant  of  these, 
a  teacher  can  do  little  which  will  render  really 
effective  help.  A  physician  might  as  well 
write  prescriptions  at  random,  and  distribute 
them  in  order,  as  he  made  the  round  of  his 
patients.  Knowledge  of  each  pupil  is  the 
essential  requisite  for  real  training.  It  may 
be  objected  that  professional  duty  leaves  a 
teacher  no  leisure  for  this;  but  one  who  has 


80  ON  TEACHING. 

made  it  a  practice  to  observe  character,  as 
every  teacher  must  have  done  in  order  to  be 
successful,  needs  no  special  time  for  the  neces- 
sary observation.  He  cannot  help  observing. 
He  only  requires  the  routine  and  bustle  of 
school  life  to  afford  the  opportunities  he  needs. 
A  private  talk  with  each  pupil,  when  con- 
strained, and  quite  on  his  guard,  will  be  of 
little  worth  for  purposes  of  observation.  You 
must  see  children  excited  by  rivalry — tried 
by  the  irritating  conduct  of  fellow-scholars — 
subjected  to  unexpected  disappointment — 
and  roused  by  the  exercise  of  the  playground 
— in  order  to  ascertain  what  are  the  character- 
istics of  each  one,  and  what  a  teacher  should 
most  strive  to  do  for  each.  In  such  scenes 
observation  is  inevitable,  and  a  child  is  never 
allowed  to  feel  as  if  he  were  watched.  Every- 
thing is  "  above-board,"  and  conies  under  obser- 
vation in  natural  course.  The  teacher  soon 
knows  who  are  irritable  and  who  are  of  a 
stubborn  disposition;  who  are  rash  and  who 
shrinking;  who  are  inclined  to  conceal  their 
purposes,  and  practise  cunning;  and  who  are 
prone  to  be  domineering.  Seeing  these  things, 
a  teacher  sees  his  work.  He  recognises  that 
a  common  discipline,  touching  all  alike,  is  not 
equal  to  the  demand.  Help  appropriate  in 
form,  and  well  timed,  he  must  endeavour  to 
give.  Scarcely  noticed  by  the  school  gene- 
rally, hardly  remarked  upon  by  the  child 
more  immediately  concerned,  a  look  of  en- 
couragement or  rebuke  will  make  a  child  con- 
scious of  success  or  failure.  A  mere  glance  of 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        81 

the  eye  may  not  reckon  for  much  in  the  log- 
book of  the  school,  but  it  has  left  its  impress 
on  the  sensitive  surface  of  a  young  heart.  A 
word  of  rebuke  dropped  softly  at  the  fitting 
moment  into  that  ear  alone  for  which  it  is 
meant  may  be  enough  to  start  a  resolution  of 
improvement  upon  which  a  teacher  may  con- 
tinue to  operate  from  day  to  day.  Such  a 
word  may  live  long  in  the  memory.  I  remem- 
ber now,  as  if  it  had  been  yesterday,  the  look 
and  word  of  a  venerated  preceptor,1  who  had 
detected  a  case  of  oppression  of  a  fellow- 
scholar,  "There  was  one  boy  in  the  group  I 
did  not  expect  to  see  consenting  to  such  con- 
duct." The  look  and  word  were  for  me,  and 
how  the  lesson  went  home  may  be  judged  by 
the  vividness  of  the  present  recollection. 

Formation  of  character  is  begun  in  each  case 
only  when  the  pupil  is  induced  to  begin  the 
work  of  self-control  A  child  must  see  that 
this  is  his  own  business,  and  a  work  for  all 
times.  He  must  be  awakened  to  the  sense  of 
that  power  which  is  power  over  self.  He  must 
have  aroused  to  activity  those  motive  forces 
which  impel  the  mind  to  the  work  of  self-con- 
trol as  one  of  living  interest.  He  must  taste 
the  joy  as  well  as  feel  the  difficulty  of  self- 
government.  Only  thus  can  the  building  up 
of  character  proceed.  For  a  teacher,  then, 
there  is  no  other  way  possible  than  that  of 
helping  the  scholar  to  help  himself  in  what 
must  be  his  own  work.  If  we  fail  to  induce  the 
pupil  to  take  to  this  in  earnest,  we  fail  in  the 

1  Dr.  Boyd,  of  the  Edinburgh  High  School. 

f 


82  ON  TEACHING. 

first  condition  of  success.  From  the  very 
centre  of  the  being  must  come  the  determina- 
tion of  the  forces  which  are  to  be  allowed  to 
sway  the  conduct.  Who  can  overcome  selfish- 
ness but  the  person  who  feels  it  ]  How  can 
generosity  be  planted  in  the  mind  except  by 
personal  admiration  of  it,  and  personal  exercise? 
The  best  that  can  be  done  from  without  is  to 
show  what  should  be  done,  and  to  give  en- 
couragement towards  the  doing  of  it ;  but  the 
doing  must  proceed  from  within.  Let  us  not 
spoil  the  whole  by  attempting  too  much ; 
there  is  enough  to  engage  observation,  exercise 
patience,  and  occupy  the  thought  of  the 
teacher  in  what  is  really  within  his  power. 
The  hardest  part  is  that  which  the  child 
himself  must  do.  The  sooner  his  attention 
is  directed  upon  it,  and  he  begins  the  struggle 
with  evil  dispositions,  so  much  the  easier  the 
task  will  be,  and  the  more  certain  will  be  the 
result. 

SELF-CONTROL  BEGINS  WITH  REFLECTIVE- 
NESS. It  has  its  sure  commencement  in 
thought  as  to  right  and  wrong  in  human  con- 
duct. But  this  thought,  to  be  of  any  real 
value  in  character-building,  must  be  concerned 
more  with  the  inward  dispositions  than  with 
the  outward  forms  of  conduct.  It  is  in  the 
suggesting  and  encouraging  of  such  thought 
that  a  teacher  can  give  to  a  pupil  the  full 
benefit  of  his  superior  intelligence,  and  greater 
calmness  of  observation.  But  some  considera- 
tion needs  to  be  given  to  the  lines  of  thought 
which  it  is  of  real  consequence  to  suggest.  A 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        83 

child  needs  no  lecturing  in  proof  of  the  position 
that  falsehood  is  wrong,  unless  his  thinking  on 
the  subject  has  been  already  perverted  by 
pernicious  home-training.  There  is  nothing 
a  child  more  resents  than  being  deliberately 
deceived.  In  like  manner  it  is  not  needful, 
under  ordinary  conditions,  to  convince  a  child 
that  stealing  is  wrong;  with  a  child  trained 
from  the  earliest  days  to  steal  it  is  otherwise. 
Every  child  is,  however,  quick  enough  at 
crying  out  against  the  theft  of  his  own  property. 
No  one,  however  unfortunately  placed  in 
respect  of  parental  influence,  is  ignorant  of  the 
fact  that  kindness  is  right.  He  has  recognised 
that,  a  long  while  before  he  came  to  school. 
What  a  child  needs  is,  not  so  much  help  to 
know  what  the  right  is,  as  help  to  do  it, 
especially  when  circumstances  tempt  to  the 
opposite.1  A  child  needs  help  to  turn  his 
attention  on  the  rising  disposition,  which,  if 
allowed  to  gain  strength,  will  tempt  to  evil- 
doing.  A  child  is  prone  to  allow  attention  to 
be  absorbed  with  what  is  external,  and  scarcely 
turns  attention  on  the  feeling  which  is  swelling 
in  the  breast.  He  needs  frequent  help  in  be- 
ginning reflective  exercise.  Reflectiveness  in 
the  proper  sense  comes  as  one  of  the  later 
attainments,  and  needs  not  a  little  effort  for  its 
cultivation.  A  teacher's  help  in  this  matter  is 

1 1  fully  agree  with  much  that  Mr.  Jolly,  H.  M.  Inspector 
of  Schools,  has  said  in  his  admirable  Report  for  1872,  as  to 
providing  for  moral  education,  only  I  think  formal  instruc- 
tion on  this  subject  is  best  given  in  connexion  with  some 
occasion  for  its  application. 


84  ON  TEACHING. 

invaluable ;  it  is  at  hand  when  most  needed. 
It  comes  just  when  the  strain  begins.  The 
teacher  knows  that  if  the  attention  be  decidedly 
turned  on  the  rising  disposition,  the  first 
requisite  is  gained  for  the  building  up  of  moral 
character.  He  must,  therefore,  aim  at  a  dis- 
criminating, prompt,  and  sympathetic  help,  such 
as  may  be  conveyed  in  a  look,  a  word,  or 
some  understood  signal.  At  such  a  time  it  is 
that  something  can  be  done  to  turn  a  child 
upon  the  work  of  self-mastery.  The  help  to 
which  I  here  point  is  the  most  delicate  and 
vital  part  of  the  work  requisite  for  the  true 
development  of  a  human  being.  Skill  in  such 
work  is  an  enviable  attainment. 

If  in  these  few  sentences  an  accurate  repre- 
sentation has  been  given  of  the  conditions 
under  which  character  is  formed,  it  is  clear 
that  a  teacher's  power  for  good  depends  upon 
the  degree  in  which  he  secures  the  respect  and 
affection  of  his  pupils.  Without  these  a  teacher 
is  powerless  in  this  matter.  The  respect  of 
the  children  will  be  secured  by  the  evidence 
of  self-control  and  moral  worth  in  himself.  A 
quiet,  dignified  deportment,  which  constantly 
conveys  the  impression  of  a  large  reserve 
power,  commands  the  confidence  of  all  the 
pupils.  A  burdened,  care-worn  look,  restless- 
ness of  disposition,  irritability  of  temper,  with 
an  irritating  style  of  government,  are  all  apt  to 
convey  to  the  children  the  impression  of  weak- 
ness, which  may  be  slighted.  For  commanding 
affection,  there  is  nothing  more  potent  than  a 
genuine  sympathy,  and  if  this  take  such  forms 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        85 

as  indicate  distinct  recognition  of  personal  diffi- 
culties, affection  for  a  teacher  may  grow  to  en- 
thusiasm. There  is  immense  importance  in  this. 
Unawakened  affection  is  a  treasure  of  influence 
undiscovered.  When  school-work  is  reduced 
to  routine — daily  begun,  continued,  and  ended 
in  a  cold  mechanical  way — it  becomes  a  soul- 
less thing,  potent  in  drill,  but  pithless  in 
morals,  and  fruitless  in  respect  of  all  the 
highest  results  of  tuition.  Tested  by  the 
"  Code,"  it  may  command  a  most  favourable 
report.  As  the  record  stands  on  the  "  log- 
book," it  may  wear  the  appearance  of  order 
and  efficiency;  but  tested  as  to  moral  train- 
ing, even  by  a  moderate  standard,  its  general 
result  must  be  unsatisfactory.  A  glance  at  the 
army  will  illustrate  my  meaning.  The  drill- 
sergeant  can  produce  in  a  given  time  certain 
patent  and  valuable  results ;  but  under  his  drill 
moral  results  are  rare,  and  hardly  contemplated. 
A  perfect  drill  and  a  low  morality  are  quite 
compatible.  And  so  it  may  be  in  the  school, 
if  there  do  not  stand  before  the  mind  of  the 
teacher  a  lofty  ideal  of  training,  to  fall  beneath 
which  would  be  humiliating  failure.  Even  a 
teacher  who  keeps  well  up  to  time — is  ready 
for  every  ringing  of  the  bell — and  goes  through 
his  work  with  exactness  of  method,  will  never 
rise  to  high  power  if  he  come  to  his  task  with 
lack  of  interest  in  it,  and  with  no  strong  out- 
flow of  sympathy  towards  the  scholars,  and  if  he 
break  off  from  it  as  one  weary  with  chiselling 
all  day  at  a  hard  stone.  If  there  is  no  interest 
for  the  teacher  beyond  exact  spelling,  good 


86  ON  TEACHING. 

reading,  accurate  reciting,  prompt  reckoning  of 
accounts,  and  well-rounded  turns  on  a  copy- 
book, his  ideal  is  that  of  the  drill-sergeant,  not 
that  of  a  discriminating,  experienced  instructor, 
capable  of  unfolding  all  the  best  qualities  of 
mind.  If  a  teacher  has  no  sympathy  with  the 
shifting  interests,  the  flowing  mirthfulness,  the 
strong,  though  idle,  fears,  the  passing  anxieties, 
the  perplexing  puzzles,  and  the  sore  disappoint- 
ments of  childhood — if  to  him  these  are  all 
alike  childish,  and  beneath  consideration — he 
is  out  of  sympathy  with  the  real  life-work  of 
the  teacher  of  youth.  Better  that  such  an  one 
betake  himself  to  what  he  regards  as  more 
manly  work,  and  leave  to  others  the  delicate 
and  difficult  task  of  bringing  a  cultured  man- 
hood and  a  refined  womanhood  out  of  feeble, 
undeveloped  childhood.  If  a  loud  voice,  a 
stamping  foot,  a  strong  cane,  a  heavy  strap, 
books,  maps,  pens,  and  paper,  exhaust  his 
materials  for  educating,  he  can  never  reach  a 
high  place  in  the  profession.  Its  leading  men 
work  on  a  higher  level,  with  finer  tools.  We 
have  heard  of  "half-timers"  among  the  scholars. 
Such  a  teacher  would  be  in  another  and  worse 
sense  a  "  half-timer  "  even  under  a  full  "  time- 
table." If,  besides  formal  appliances,  a  teacher 
has  a  living  interest  in  the  whole  experience  of 
his  pupils,  he  can  lend  his  aid  to  them  in  the 
work  of  self-government  as  well  as  in  that  of 
acquiring  knowledge.  If  there  be  for  him  a 
fascination  in  the  work  of  guiding  the  slowly 
opening  mind — if  there  be  a  pleasure  in  lighten- 
ing childhood's  burden — if  it  be  something  akin 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        87 

to  the  return  of  the  joyousness  of  his  own  boy- 
hood to  look  on  the  unchecked  mirth  of  his 
pupils — he  can  help  them,  sway  them,  check 
them,  and  stir  in  their  hearts  the  higher  motive 
forces  of  human  life,  as  he'could  not  otherwise 
do.  A  clear  stream  of  warm  sympathy  must 
flow  from  the  teacher  to  the  scholars  if  real 
progress  is  to  be  made  in  the  formation  of 
character  during  the  early  years  of  school  life. 
Thus  only  can  difficulties  be  surmounted,  suffi- 
cient motive  awakened,  and  an  attractive  glow 
of  golden  sunshine  sent  over  the  pathway  of 
arduous  duty. 

In  aiding  the  formation  of  character  in  the 
young,  the  first  aspect  of  the  teacher's  work  is 
that  of  REPRESSION.  This  is  a  more  difficult 
and  trying  work  than  the  encouragement  of 
good.  But  evil  tendencies  must  be  checked, 
in  order  that  the  nobler  dispositions  may  have 
room  to  grow.  If  the  check  is  to  be  wisely 
and  successfully  put  on,  much  more  is  wanted 
than  that  the  check  itself  be  a  strong  and 
severe  one.  Fortunately,  the  most  powerful 
form  of  restraint  is  a  form  of  encouragement 
to  the  person  restrained.  Taking  for  granted 
that  evil  inclinations  must  be  mastered,  and 
demanding  this  of  the  children  themselves,  the 
teacher  gains  the  strongest  position  when  he  is 
neither  the  lawgiver  nor  the  imperious  autho- 
rity requiring  its  fulfilment,  but  is  the  friendly 
counsellor,  suggesting  the  best  means  of  gaining 
the  victory.  A  suitable  hint  dropped  in  the 
ear,  showing  that  the  difficulty  has  been  seen 
and  measured,  and  that  the  teacher  will  be  a 


88  ON  TEACHING. 

sharer  in  the  joy  of  success,  will  stir  new 
resolution,  and  change  some  part  of  a  naturally 
irksome  task  to  attractiveness.  There  is  great 
need  that  we  keep  in  view  the  painfulness  of 
the  experience  involved  in  conflict  with  power- 
ful tendencies  in  the  nature.  To  appreciate 
the  difficulty  of  the  task  any  child  has  on  hand 
carries  one  a  great  way  towards  proving  a  real 
helper.  But  the  painfulness  of  the  work  must 
in  nowise  give  exemption  from  it.  Such  pain- 
fulness  is  part  of  the  necessary  experience  of  true 
development.  To  favour  a  child  escaping  from 
the  determination  and  suffering  connected  with 
self-denial  is  no  kindness,  but  the  worst  form 
of  cruelty.  There  is  but  one  way  for  mankind 
securing  a  clear  escape  from  this  painfulness,  that 
is,  to  face  the  effort  which  occasions  the  pain, 
until  by  facility  of  effort  the  pain  itself  gradually 
diminishes,  until  the  pleasure  of  pure  and  lofty 
motive  is  felt  greatly  to  outweigh  the  uneasi- 
ness. Neither  parent  nor  teacher  can  wisely 
screen  children  from  the  bitter  ordeal  which 
self-denial  entails.  "  A  spoilt  child  "  has  been 
spoiled  by  encouragement  in  self-indulgence, 
which  at  each  turn  has  been  allowed  under 
name  of  "  kindness,"  and  which  has  prevented 
reflection  where  it  might  have  arisen,  and  a 
struggle  for  self-mastery  which  might  have 
been  attempted.  It  is  a  weak  and  altogether 
pernicious  type  of  sympathy  which  inclines  a 
teacher  or  guardian  to  save  a  child  from  the 
pain  of  conflict  with  his  own  evil  tendencies. 
This  is  "  blind  sympathy,"  one  of  the  worst 
illustrations  out  of  a  considerable  variety  which 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        89 

give  force  to  the  adage  that  "  love  is  blind." 
Wisdom  is  the  true  guide  of  love,  for  there  is 
no  more  glaring  practical  mistake  than  the 
notion  that  the  law  of  love  is  all  we  need  to 
make  our  life  noble.  The  love  which  shelters 
from  the  pain  of  self-denial  is  soon  blind  even 
to  the  faults  which  spring  from  the  want  of  re- 
straining power.  There  is  therefore  great  need 
to  guard  against  love  degenerating  to  softness. 
Even  tender  years  must  not  be  allowed  to 
plead  for  self-indulgence.  In  kindness,  the 
teacher  must  remember  that  the  sooner  the 
work  of  self-restraint  begins  the  easier  it 
proves.  But  when  this  work  is  bravely  faced, 
let  us  give  all  the  sympathetic  aid  in  our 
power,  always  remembering  that  the  work 
itself  must  be  the  child's  own.  Real  sympathy 
helps  the  youth  in  his  battle  with  evil  within. 
And  a  heavy  demand  there  ever  must  be  for  such 
sympathy,  while  selfishness  must  be  crushed, 
anger  must  be  restrained,  and  wrongs  must 
be  endured  without  retaliation.  The  task  may 
be  harder  for  some  than  for  others,  but  in 
every  case  it  must  be  carried  through.  A 
clear  recognition  of  all  that  this  requires  is  of 
greatest  value  to  a  teacher.  Happy  are  -the 
children  placed  under  the  care  of  teachers  who 
see  the  moral  requirements  of  their  case,  and 
take  pleasure  in  individualizing.  The  victory 
is  half  won  if  a  child  has  a  strong  helper  in 
his  instructor.  However  young  the  child  be, 
he  feels  and  appreciates  the  help  ;  for  here  it 
is  worth  observing  that  children  clearly  dis- 
criminate between  the  different  forms  and 


90  ON  TEACHING. 

effects  of  what  their  seniors  often  classify 
under  the  single  name  "  kindness."  They 
have  a  sensitiveness  of  nature,  rather  emotional 
than  intellectual,  which  distinguishes  between 
the  affection  which  tends  to  feebleness,  and 
the  affection  which  both  makes  sacrifices  and 
demands  that  they  be  made.  Children  have 
one  kind  of  affection  for  the  good-natured, 
easy-going  master,  whom  they  would  describe 
as  a  "jolly  fellow,"  who  winks  at  a  great  deal 
that  should  be  checked,  and  yields  almost 
anything  that  is  clamoured  for.  They  have  a 
different  and  deeper  regard  for  the  guide  who 
looks  both  before  and  behind,  and  will  neither 
himself  yield,  nor  allow  those  for  whom  he  is 
responsible  to  yield  anything  that  concerns 
right  conduct.  It  is  a  perilous  mistake  if  we 
dissociate  love  from  law,  and  yield  to  a  tender- 
ness which  lowers  the  standard  of  personal 
goodness,  and  lessens  the  task  of  self-govern- 
ment. There  is  only  one  thing  worse,  that  is, 
the  discovery  of  a  softness  of  nature  which 
encourages  children  to  resort  to  fawning  and 
cajolery,  in  the  hope  of  gaining  what  has  been 
formerly  denied  them.  Such  weakness  of 
government  is  positively  demoralizing.  It 
both  trains  and  rewards  cunning,  a  vice  which 
is  the  ruin  of  all  moral  character.  Instead  of 
laying  the  foundations  of  a  good  character,  the 
superior,  whether  parent  or  teacher,  is  under- 
mining the  foundation  on  which  alone  he  can 
build  with  success.  Transparent  honesty  is 
essential  for  sound  building,  and  if  a  child  is  to 
be  guided  and  encouraged  as  he  ought,  he  must 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        91 

be  led  very  early  in  life  to  yield  conformity 
to  moral  laws,  which  are  as  unchangeable  and 
unvariable  as  physical  laws. 

The  repression  of  wrong-doing  introduces  us 
to  some  of  the  most  perplexing  educational 
problems.  Upon  these  I  am  not  disposed  to 
theorize  down  to  minute  details.  In  no  other 
way  is  it  possible  to  govern,  and  at  the  same 
time  help  by  governing,  than  by  the  exercise 
of  practical  sagacity,  which  grasps  the  whole 
aspects  of  each  case,  and  decides  upon  it  by 
reference  to  moral  law,  and  a  full  understand- 
ing of  the  nature  of  the  child  concerned. 
There  are  moral  offences  which  must  call  down 
upon  them  condemnation  to  be  felt  by  the 
whole  school.  I  do  not  return  here  to  the 
question  of  suitable  punishments.  But  it  must 
be  clear  that  falsehood,  cruelty,  and  dishonesty 
cannot  go  unpunished.  The  necessities  of 
discipline,  even  if  no  higher  ground  were  taken, 
demand  that  they  be  effectually  checked.  The 
sense  of  the  wrongness  of  such  conduct  must 
be  borne  in  upon  the  mind.  It  is  not  enough 
that  the  scholars  account  them  as  hazardous, 
because  certain  to  entail  punishment  if  detected. 
The  shrinking  from  physical  pain  is  so  great, 
that  the  risk  of  having  to  endure  it  is  apt  to 
be  the  first  consideration  with  a  child.  This 
is  one  of  the  peculiar  disadvantages  of  corporal 
punishment.  The  risk  of  this  is  so  great  that 
it  becomes  matter  of  special  importance  that 
the  moral  aspect  of  the  offence  be  impressed 
upon  the  mind  of  the  offender.  Mere  punish- 
ment may  be  quickly  administered,  but  the 


92  ON  TEACHING. 

child  may  be  nothing  the  better ;  lie  may  even 
be  the  worse.  What  is  needed  is  to  make 
him  reflect  until  he  sees  for  himself  the  wrong- 
ness  of  the  act.  He  must  perceive  that  it  is 
impossible  to  approve  the  act, — that  he  would 
have  resented  it  exceedingly  had  it  been  done 
to  himself, — that  the  utmost  disaster  would 
be  the  result  of  its  frequent  commission.  The 
time  taken  up  in  this  way  is  well  spent.  Thus 
the  teacher  is  doing  his  part  to  lay  solidly  the 
great  stones  for  a  sure  foundation. 

Keeping  in  view  the  exceeding  sensitiveness 
to  impression  discovered  by  the  mind,  it  is  well 
to  economize  influence  by  doing  the  utmost 
possible  with  the  least  instrumentality.  It  is 
a  mistake  to  suppose  that  we  are  most  effective 
when  most  severe.  There  is  a  fineness  of 
sensibility  over  the  spirit  which  vanishes  at  the 
first  threatening  of  severity.  Rough  handling 
will  in  an  instant  spoil  the  surface  on  which 
you  wish  to  impress  an  accurate  transcript  of 
moral  law.  An  economy  of  material  is  com- 
patible with  the  best  results.  "James!"  or 
"  Jessie  !  "  uttered  in  a  tone  of  surprise,  will  in 
many  cases  make  a  deep  and  lasting  impression 
upon  the  mind  of  one  seen  transgressing.  And 
in  general  the  teacher  has  gained  a  great  deal 
if  in  a  few  clear,  calm  statements,  he  set  forth 
the  essential  evil  of  an  act  such  as  falsehood, 
and  find  the  pupils  overawed  by  a  conscious- 
ness of  the  impossibility  of  anything  but  con- 
demnation being  applied  to  such  a  deed.  A 
few  weighty  words,  slowly  and  quietly  uttered 
in  the  midst  of  general  stillness,  are  in  their 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        93 

practical  effect  worth  far  more  than  hours  of 
the  loudest  storming. 

Beyond  such  general  dealing  comes  the  great 
perplexity  of  school  life.  How  shall  we  deal 
with  those  who  are  wilful,  stubborn,  and  de- 
fiant 1  It  is  a  question  hard  to  answer.  There 
are  some  who  object  entirely  to  corporal  pun- 
ishment. As  already  indicated,  I  am  not  able 
to  agree  with  this  view.  Alternatives  are  hard 
to  find,  though  it  is  most  desirable  to  avail  our- 
selves of  all  that  seem  to  promise  efficiency. 
Expulsion  from  the  school  I  regard  as  an  ex- 
treme measure,  to  be  shunned  up  to  the  verge 
of  endurance.  Unless  in  the  case  of  unruly 
pupils  at  an  advanced  age  for  school  life  (such 
as  are  not  unfrequently  to  be  found  in  evening 
schools),  expulsion  from  the  school  can  hardly 
be  looked  at  as  an  available  course.  It  is 
escape  from  a  difficulty,  not  mastery  of  it.  It 
is  a  practical  admission  of  failure,  which,  if 
possible,  should  never  be  made  in  face  of  a 
school.  Instead  of  increasing  the  moral  influ- 
ence of  a  teacher,  it  detracts  from  it.  Let 
kindly  treatment,  as  occasion  offers,  calm  and 
sympathetic  remonstrance  in  private,  assurances 
of  patience,  and  promises  of  help,  be  all  ac- 
cumulated around  the  offender.  Let  everything 
be  done  which  tenderest  sympathy  can  sug- 
gest rather  than  that  the  offender  be  banished 
from  the  school,  and  turned  over  as  a  pest  upon 
the  hands  of  some  unsuspecting  brother  in  the 
profession.  There  is  a  very  graphic  account  of 
the  conflict  with  a  stubborn  and  wild  youth 
which  deserves  perusal,  given  in  one  of  the 


94  ON  TEACHING. 

books  of  Dr.  Eggleston,1  descriptive  of  school 
life  in  the  midst  of  the  rude  settlers  in  the  Far 
West  of  America.  Very  touching  is  the  story, 
naturally  recalled  here,  which  is  told  by  Dr. 
Guthrie  in  his  own  pathetic  style  :  "  A  soldier, 
whose  regiment  lay  in  a  garrison  town  in  Eng- 
land, was  about  to  be  brought  before  his  com- 
manding officer  for  some  offence.  He  was  an 
old  offender,  and  had  been  often  punished. 
'  Here  he  is  again,'  said  the  officer,  on  his  name 
being  mentioned;  'everything — flogging,  dis- 
grace, imprisonment — has  been  tried  with  him.' 
Whereupon  the  sergeant  stepped  forward,  and 
apologizing  for  the  liberty  he  took,  said,  '  There 
is  one  thing  that  has  never  been  done  with  him, 
sir.'  '  What  is  that  1 '  was  the  answer.  'Well, 
sir,'  said  the  sergeant,  '  he  has  never  been  for- 
given.' '  Forgiven  ! '  exclaimed  the  colonel,  sur- 
prised at  the  suggestion.  He  reflected  for  a 
few  minutes,  ordered  the  culprit  to  be  brought 
in,  and  asked  him  what  he  had  to  say  to  the 
charge  ?  *  Nothing,  sir,'  was  his  reply  ;  '  only  I 
am  sorry  for  what  I  have  done.'  Turning  a 
kind  and  pitiful  look  on  the  man,  who  expected 
nothing  else  than  that  his  punishment  would 
be  increased  with  the  repetition  of  his  offence, 
the  colonel  addressed  him,  saying,  '  Well,  we 
have  resolved  to  forgive  you  ! '  The  soldier 
was  struck  dumb  with  astonishment ;  the  tears 
started  in  his  eyes,  and  he  wept  like  a  child. 
He  was  humbled  to  the  dust ;  he  thanked  his 
officer  and  retired — to  be  the  old  refractory, 
incorrigible  man  ?  No ;  he  was  another  man 
1  The  lloosier  Schoolmaster.  Routledge,  London. 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        95 

from  that  day  forward.  He  who  tells  the 
story  had  him  for  years  under  his  eye,  and  a 
better- conducted  man  never  wore  the  Queen's 
colours." l  Such  a  case,  even  though  it  be  re- 
garded as  one  in  a  hundred,  is  worth  ponder- 
ing. At  the  same  time  it  needs  to  be  remarked 
that  it  is  the  case  of  one  hardened  by  punish- 
ment, and  is  a  case  of  pardon  which  could  not 
have  been  renewed  if  the  experiment  had 
proved  unsuccessful.  But  there  is  in  tender- 
ness of  dealing  a  power  so  great  that  a  teacher 
may  well  venture  at  times  upon  an  experi- 
ment with  the  view  of  ascertaining  how 
wide  a  range  of  application  may  be  allowed 
to  it. 

In  carrying  forward  the  work  of  moral  train- 
ing, some  attention  needs  to  be  given  to  the 
moral  RISKS  CONNECTED  WITH  SCHOOL  MANAGE- 
MENT. There  are  such  risks,  against  which  it  is 
an  important  duty  to  have  the  scholars  kept  on 
guard  as  far  as  possible.  The  rivalries  of  school 
life  carry  with  them  temptations  to  jealousy. 
The  daily  competition,  the  marking  of  places, 
the  reckonings  which  are  to  determine  the 
prizes,  all  excite  the  children  in  a  way  which 
is  apt  to  break  in  upon  the  work  of  self- 
restraint.  Eagerness  for  honour  tempts  either 
to  seize  at  an  advantage  or  to  cherish  enmity 
because  such  an  advantage  has  been  secured 
by  another.  The  stimulus  of  competition  has 
undoubtedly  a  high  value ;  but  this  fact  must 
not  blind  our  eyes  to  the  accompanying  evils. 
The  influence  of  numbers  is  great,  and  the 
1  Speaking  to  the  Heart,  p.  36. 


96  ON  TEACHING. 

rivalry  of  open  competition  quickens  interest 
in  the  round  of  school  work.  To  dispense 
with  such  stimulus  seems  hardly  wise.  And 
yet  it  cannot  be  matter  for  surprise  that  many 
teachers  have  been  led  seriously  to  question 
whether  there  is  a  real  educational  gain  from 
these  rivalries.  It  would  be  difficult  to  decide 
the  dispute  by  careful  comparison  of  the  evi- 
dence for  the  opposing  views.  One  considera- 
tion seems  to  me  conclusive.  Competition  is 
an  invariable  attendant  on  human  effort.  There 
is  no  sphere  of  life  which  altogether  escapes  its 
influence.  In  the  great  majority  of  the  spheres 
in  which  life  is  spent  the  results  of  rivalry  are 
met  at  every  turn.  For  this  school  training 
should  prepare,  as  for  one  of  the  certainties  of 
human  life.  To  bear  one's-self  with  calmness, 
fairness,  and  generosity  in  the  midst  of  the 
rivalries  of  business  is  of  the  highest  conse- 
quence both  for  personal  interests  and  for  the 
harmony  of  social  life.  It  is,  indeed,  a  great 
service  which  is  rendered  to  the  community  if 
school  training  prepare  for  this.  The  teacher's 
thoughts  must  often  revert  to  the  subject, 
if  the  scholars  are  to  be  guarded  against  the 
perils,  and  guided  to  the  attainment  of  the 
requisite  power.  Ambition,  that  "last  in- 
firmity of  noble  minds,"  may  be  turned  to 
ignoble  ends,  and  may  change  strength  to 
weakness,  nobleness  to  meanness. 

Taking  now  a  somewhat  wider  survey  of  the 
requirements  of  our  national  life,  a  teacher's 
attention  would  need  to  be  turned  to  OUR 
PREVAILING  NATIONAL  VICES,  and  the  best 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        97 

means  for  fortifying  the  young  against  them.1 
Early  school  life  should  do  much  to  guard 
against  the  rudeness  and  coarseness  which  turn 
domestic  life  to  bitterness,  and  prepare  the  way 
for  outbreaks  of  violence.  A  constant  stream 
of  refining  influence  should  flow  through  the 
minds  of  the  pupils.  Everything  favourable 
in  the  reading-book,  in  history,  or  in  the  inci- 
dents of  the  school-room,  should  be  utilized 
for  this  end.  By  all  means  at  our  command, 
let  us  seek  to  refine  and  elevate.  Our  aim 
must  be  to  give  a  softened  tinge  to  the 
character,  like  the  mellow  bloom  on  the  dark 
rich  clusters  of  the  vine.  Thus  a  higher  life 
is  in  some  measure  reached  by  a  child,  and  he 
wields  a  gentler  influence,  checking  the  asperi- 
ties of  life.  In  mixed  schools,  such  as  we  have 
in  Scotland,  there  is  ample  opportunity  for 
training  boys  to  cherish  a  respectful  and 
generous  demeanour  towards  girls — a  lesson 
of  high  value  in  itself,  and  far-reaching  in  its 
effects.  Encouragement  in  right  practice  is 
real  training.  While  harshness  to  a  companion 

1  Professor  Hodgson  (University  of  Edinburgh)  presented 
this  in  admirable  form  in  his  address  at  Norwich,  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Education  Department  of  the  Social  Science 
Association— Congress  1873.  He  at  the  same  time  forcibly 
indicated  the  present  state  of  public  opinion  on  this  sub- 
ject. He  says,  "  Everywhere  around  us  we  find  coarseness 
of  manner,  cruelty  both  to  animals  and  to  our  fellows, 
petty  dishonesty,  disregard  of  truth,  wastefulness,  evasion 
of  duty,  infidelity  to  engagements,  not  to  speak  of  graver 
forms  of  wrong-doing ;  and  WHO  BELIEVES  IN  BIS  HEART 

THAT  SCHOOL  TRAINING  COULD  DO  ANYTHING  TO  PREVENT 
THEM  ? " 

G 


98  ON  TEACHING. 

is  shown  to  be  wrong  in  itself,  the  whole  school 
should  be  made  to  feel  that  it  is  additionally 
offensive  when  a  boy  has  been  the  aggressor 
and  a  girl  the  sufferer.  And  this  impression 
needs  to  be  conveyed  in  such  a  manner,  that 
while  the  boys  are  conscious  of  restraint  laid 
upon  them,  the  girls  may  not  be  led  to  suppose 
that  a  law  less  strict  applies  to  them,  or  that 
they  are  to  be  sheltered  from  the  consequences 
of  their  own  actions.  A  skilful  hand  must 
steady  the  balance.  An  outburst  of  rudeness 
on  the  part  of  a  girl  should  be  felt  additionally 
odious,  because  of  its  utter  incongruity  with  the 
native  gentleness  and  modesty  of  the  sex.  A 
true  teacher  will  do  his  utmost  to  deliver  men 
from  coarseness,  and  to  preserve  for  women 
that  gentleness  which  achieves  higher  results 
than  brute  force.  When  teaching  aims  at  such 
ends  as  these,  it  takes  to  itself  the  guardianship 
of  a  lofty  ideal.  The  effects  will  not  appear 
when  the  inspection  of  the  school  takes  place. 
Under  our  system  of  "  payment  by  results," 
these  effects  will  not  have  any  record  in  the 
return  of  "  grant "  from  the  Education  Depart- 
ment, and  will  not  appear  in  the  cash-book  of 
the  School  Board.  But,  what  is  of  infinitely 
more  consequence  to  us  all,  they  will,  as  living 
results,  spread  throughout  society  in  after 
years,  and  tell  upon  succeeding  generations. 

If  there  be  any  one  vice  against  which  the 
teachers  of  our  country  should  seek  to  warn 
the  young,  it  is  DRUNKENNESS.  Our  national 
reproach  because  of  this  one  vice  is  a  bitter 
one ;  our  national  loss  and  suffering  appalling 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.        99 

to  a  degree  not  realized  by  those  who  do  not 
ponder  the  statistics  of  the  subject.  Our 
national  weal  depends  largely  on  our  casting 
off  this  loathsome  evil.  Intelligence  and  de- 
bauchery cannot  go  long  together,  either  in 
personal  or  in  national  history.  Drunkenness 
is  a  vice  at  which  school  training  should  level 
its  heaviest  blows.  There  are  at  present  fear- 
ful odds  against  the  teacher's  hand  here,  more 
particularly  in  the  midst  of  the  poverty-stricken 
districts  in  our  large  cities,  blighted  by  the 
baneful  influence  of  strong  drink.  But  if  the 
teacher  be  observant  as  to  opportunities,  per- 
sistent in  his  plan,  hearty  in  his  utterances, 
and  judicious  in  his  avoidance  of  ridicule,  he 
can  do  much  in  fixing  unseen  convictions,  and 
may  be  aided,  unconsciously  to  himself  and  to 
the  poor  children,  by  the  sad'  experience*  of 
the  misery  and  brutality  which  a  drunken  life 
occasions.  A  steady  moral  influence  quietly 
returning,  as  opportunity  offers,  to  impress  upon 
the  mind  the  evils  of  drunkenness,  and  the 
value  of  temperance  as  a  root  virtue,  will  help 
largely  towards  the  training  of  a  race  strong 
in  the  self-control  of  a  temperate  life.  The 
waste  of  substance  which  drunkenness  causes, 
— the  weakness  and  weariness;  of  body, — the 
debasement  of  mind, — the  desolation  of  homes, 
are  such  as  to  afford  the  teacher  many  links  of 
association  making  reference  easy  and  natural. 
There  is  enough  in  the  thought  of  these  things 
to  deliver  childhood  from  the  risk  of  making 
mirth  of  the  drunkard.  There  is  enough  to 
favour  one  who  desires  to  awaken  loathing  in 


100  ON  TEACHING. 

a  young  mind.  But  in  all  allusions  to  this 
subject  there  is  need  for  great  delicacy  of  feel- 
ing and  tact.  The  teacher  needs  to  remember 
into  how  many  homes  in  our  land  the  horrid 
vampire  has  entered,  and  how  many  young 
hearts  are  smarting  under  the  wounds  it  has 
inflicted.  The  revelations  which  our  School 
Boards  in  the  great  cities  have  had  to  con- 
template during  the  brief  period  of  their 
labours  already  passed,  are  painful  beyond  all 
utterance.  They  have  discovered  to  us  the 
enormity  of  the  evil,  and  the  urgent  need  that 
the  children  rescued  by  the  "compulsory 
clause  "  be  fortified  against  the  fearful  tempta- 
tions to  be  met.  Well  may  the  teachers  speak 
often  about  drunkenness,  but  in  all  that  is  said, 
we  must  deal  tenderly  with  the  sacred  feelings 
of  childhood,  and  make  our  teaching  strengthen 
filial  interest  and  devotion,  where  there  is  so 
much  to  strike  at  the  roots  of  both,  to  the 
terrible  aggravation  of  the  evil. 

The  other  and  more  pleasing  aspect  of  the 
teacher's  work  in  aiming  at  the  formation  of 
character  is  the  ENCOURAGEMENT  OF  ALL  GOOD 
DISPOSITIONS.  The  nourishment  of  the  good 
is  the  surest  way  of  repressing  the  evil.  Thus, 
the  growth  of  generosity  is  the  decay  of  mean- 
ness ;  so  it  is  all  round.  The  life  of  the 
virtues  is  the  death  of  the  vices.  Where  there 
is  sensitiveness  as  to  the  feelings  of  others, 
there  is  shrinking  from  rudeness.  Generosity 
quickens  the  sense  of  shame  at  the  rise  of 
a  selfish  feeling.  The  love  of  truth  will  sum- 
mon courage  to  its  aid,  rather  than  screen 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.      101 

itself  from  suffering  behind  the  mean  shelter 
which  a  falsehood  might  afford.  In  this  way 
it  is  apparent  that  a  teacher  can  do  much  to 
prevent  the  outbreaks  of  evil  by  the  judicious 
and  hearty  encouragement  he  gives  to  all 
examples  of  well-doing. 

Here,  then,  our  question  is, — How  can  the 
teacher  most  effectively  contribute  towards  the 
development  of  the  noble  qualities  of  moral 
character  1  The  first  and  most  constant  form 
of  help  is  that  afforded  by  the  spirit  in  which 
school  discipline  is  maintained.  If  that  illus- 
trate throughout  the  play  of  good  disposition, 
the  children  are  unconsciously  won  to  admira- 
tion and  imitation  of  the  same.  It  is  not  de- 
spotic government  which  is  favourable  to  the 
growth  of  virtue,  but  the  government  of  reason 
and  sympathy — in  other  words,  a  government 
founded  on  moral  excellence.  If  the  children 
have  any  occasion  to  complain  of  injustice, 
some  injury  is  done  to  their  moral  training. 
Let  the  atmosphere  of  justice  and  kindliness 
pervade  the  school-room,  and  the  scholars  will 
grow  up  in  robustness  of  moral  life.  In  speak- 
ing, however,  of  this  pervading  influence,  it  is 
not  implied  that  a  teacher  may  uniformly  suc- 
ceed in  reaching  his  own  ideal.  This  is  not 
the  condition  upon  which  sound  moral  train- 
ing can  be  maintained.  Personal  perfection  is 
not  by  any  means  needful  in  order  to  success 
in  training  others.  But  those  who  are  under 
a  teacher's  care  must  be  satisfied  that  he  has  a 
noble  ideal  which  he  sincerely  admires,  and 
which  he  honestly  strives  to  reach.  Their 


102  ON  TEACHING. 

confidence  in  this  must  not  be  shaken  by  his 
failures ;  it  must  even  be  strengthened  by 
means  of  these.  The  suggestion  may  seem 
incongruous,  but  if  it  be  reflected  upon  it  will 
appear  that  we  often  judge  even  more  confi- 
dently of  a  person's  character  by  the  manner 
in  which  he  acts  when  conscious  of  having 
done  wrong,  than  we  do  in  observing  the  more 
ordinary  examples  of  well-doing.  This  is 
peculiarly  true  as  to  the  judgment  which 
children  form  of  their  instructor.  If  he  do  a 
wrong,  and  be  found  denying  it,  or  be  seen 
resorting  to  shifts  to  conceal  it,  nothing  is 
more  quickly  made  the  subject  of  remark. 
But  if  one  who  is  constantly  laying  down  the 
law,  and  reflecting  upon  them  for  failures,  do 
himself  acknowledge  that  he  has  fallen  into 
mistake,  or  has  done  what  he  openly  regrets, 
the  children  have  great  confidence  in  the 
sincerity  of  his  counsels,  because  they  believe 
in  the  reality  of  his  own  effort  to  do  what  he 
requires  others  to  do.  If  an  unintentional 
injustice  has  been  done,  let  the  error  be  freely, 
and  if  needful  publicly,  acknowledged,  and  let 
the  error  be  rectified  as  far  as  possible.  None 
of  us  professes  to  be  perfect;  it  would  be 
purest  affectation  to  conduct  a  class  on  the 
assumption  that  we  are.  It  does  not  lower  the 
dignity  of  a  teacher  to  own  a  fault  on  a  fitting 
occasion.  But  the  acknowledgment  must  be  a 
proof  of  strong  moral  purpose, — not  a  painful 
admission  of  weakness  and  bewilderment.  It 
must  give  evidence  of  the  power  of  self-com- 
mand,— not  of  the  want  of  it. 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER      103 

Next  in  importance  is  the  power  of  direct 
encouragement.  If  the  teacher  gain  the  affec- 
tions of  his  scholars,  and  give  regular  evidence 
of  his  wish  to  stimulate  them  in  well-doing,  his 
influence  over  them  will  be  great.  They  have 
a  desire  to  stand  well  with  their  teacher,  and 
if  this  desire  be  utilized  it  becomes  easy  to 
contribute  daily  towards  the  formation  of  a 
good  character.  In  order  to  preserve  this  in- 
fluence, however,  it  is  needful  to  remember 
that  praise  as  well  as  blame  must  be  used 
sparingly.  The  child  must  know  and  feel  that 
he  has  gained  approval,  but  only  at  rare  times 
should  he  hear  himself  praised  before  others. 
So  delicate  a  process  is  that  by  which  character 
is  developed,  that  there  is  danger  from  frequent 
commendation,  just  as  there  is  on  the  other 
side  from  frequent  fault-finding.  The  dangers 
here  are  two — that  of  encouraging  pride  while 
encouraging  well-doing,  and  that  of  tempting  a 
child  to  suppose  that  there  is  something  pecu- 
liarly meritorious  in  simply  doing  his  duty. 
The  former  is  the  more  conspicuous,  and 
is  certain  to  attract  .attention  if  it  arise,  and 
thereby  suggest  the  need  for  counteractives. 
But  the  latter  is  one  not  so  easily  observed, 
and  which  goes  much  more  quickly  in  the 
direction  of  undermining  the  character.  The 
child  must  be  made  to  recognise  that  if  he  has 
done  well,  he  has  only  done  what  is  naturally 
required  of  him,  and  what  he  must  be  required 
to  do  a  hundred  times  a  day  with  as  much  ease 
and  fixedness  of  purpose  as  appear  in  his  use  of 
speech.  In  view  of  the  danger  thus  indicated, 


104  ON  TEACHING. 

it  is  desirable  that  a  child  more  commonly  feel 
that  he  has  gained  approval  rather  than  hear 
the  expression  of  it.  It  is  with  encourage- 
ment, as  with  so  much  besides, — it  is  most 
easily  conveyed  through  the  eye,  and  by  this 
vehicle  of  communication  there  is  least  risk  of 
error  or  injurious  effects.  A  look  is,  indeed, 
fleeting,  and  cannot  be  long  sustained;  but 
there  is  an  advantage  in  this  for  the  pur- 
pose here  contemplated.  On  the  other  hand, 
however  fleeting,  a  look  of  encouragement  is 
long  remembered  by  a  child.  It  is  greatly 
more  appreciated,  and  much  better  remembered 
than  a  geography  lesson.  In  the  case  of  those 
who  are  apt  to  be  crushed  with  the  sense  of 
frequent  failure,  and  are  in  danger  of  having 
feeling  embittered,  some  words  of  encourage- 
ment will  be  greatly  more  influential  than  heavy 
punishment.  Only,  the  occasion  for  commenda- 
tion must  come  naturally.  It  must  first  be  felt 
to  have  been  deserved,  else  it  blunts  the  finer 
feelings  and  hurts  the  character.  Genuineness 
is  essential  everywhere.  Merited  commenda- 
tion should  however  be  readily  given.  "  Hon- 
our to  whom  honour  is  due."  To  a  child  who 
finds  it  hard  to  do  what  is  right,  a  single  state- 
ment made  privately  that  his  efforts  in  this 
direction  have  been  observed  and  appreciated, 
will  spread  out  its  influence  over  whole  days. 
In  all  this  we  need  to  beware  of  allowing  our- 
selves to  be  hampered  by  the  fear  of  promot- 
ing the  growth  of  pride.  Observation  and 
sagacity  are  required  as  to  times  and  ways  of 
expressing  approval.  We  must  guard  ourselves 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.       105 

against  favouring  a  proud  disposition  ;  but  we 
must  no  less  anxiously  guard  against  the  peril 
of  fostering  a  mock  humility.  Certain  things 
are  to  be  blamed,  let  them  be  blamed  undevi- 
atingly  :  other  things  are  to  be  praised,  let  us 
give  them  their  due  no  less  freely.  If  only 
mutual  understanding  be  established  between 
teacher  and  pupil,  a  most  powerful  impulse  in 
the  direction  of  moral  improvement  can  be 
communicated  from  day  to  day.  In  the  learn- 
ing of  lessons,  in  conflict  with  evil  passions, 
and  in  all  forms  of  well-doing,  there  is  an  im- 
mense difference  between  one  discouraged  and 
one  who  is  warned  and  cheered  by  a  friendly 
counsellor.  The  task  for  the  scholar  is  in  any 
case  the  same.  But  when  encouraged  he  works 
with  more  ardour  and  expectation  of  success. 
He  feels  all  about  him  the  moral  support  of 
one  older  and  more  experienced,  who  is  person- 
ally concerned  in  a  result  to  be  reached  by  slow 
stages,  and  which  is  so  important  as  to  colour 
the  whole  life. 

The  opening  RELIGIOUS  EXERCISES  of  each 
day,  if  properly  conducted,  must  greatly  aid 
the  work  of  training.  The  ratepayers  of  the 
country  have  declared  unmistakeably  for  reli- 
gious teaching  as  the  true  support  of  moral 
training.  Teachers  who  include  moral  training 
in  their  ideal  of  professional  duty  will  be  thank- 
ful for  the  decision.  The  "  Conscience  Clause  " 
frees  a  teacher  from  irksome  apprehensions  as 
to  interference  with  the  religious  convictions 
of  those  who  have  intrusted  him  with  the  deli- 
cate task  of  training  their  children.  The 


106  ON  TEACHING. 

teacher  is  assured  that  in  these  opening  religi- 
ous exercises  he  is  starting  the  work  of  the  day 
as  the  great  bulk  of  the  people  wish  him  to  do, 
while  complete  protection  has  been  provided 
for  exceptional  cases.  As  a  moral  trainer,  the 
teacher  is  immensely  aided  by  opportunity  for 
touching  the  deeper  feelings  of  human  nature. 
To  lift  the  whole  set  of  duties  into  the  light 
of  God's  eye,  and  to  associate  childhood's  efforts 
with  the  wealth  of  divine  sympathy  and  help, 
is  at  once  to  raise  life  higher,  and  make  effort 
easier  and  more  gladsome.  To  link  the  moral 
sentiments  with  the  religious  feelings  is  to 
bring  the  strong  forces  of  the  human  mind  into 
play  for  support  of  arduous  effort.  I  do  not 
touch  the  underlying  problems  of  religious  con- 
viction with  which  every  thinker  must  concern 
himself.  The  teacher  is  as  likely  as  any — 
more  likely  than  most — to  feel  the  interest  of 
such  problems.  But,  as  a  teacher,  his  work  is 
practical,  not  speculative.  He  seeks  a  full 
culture  for  the  children,  within  the  limits 
which  their  slender  capacities  prescribe.  The 
religious  exercises  with  which  the  school  is 
opened  favour  him  greatly  in  his  plan.  No- 
thing can  more  contribute  to  thoughtful  self- 
control  than  simplicity  of  devotional  service, 
and  familiarity  with  the  touching  scenes  in  the 
life  of  our  Saviour.  But  here,  as  everywhere, 
reality  is  the  test  of  efficiency.  Formality  in 
devotion  and  carelessness  in  reading  Scripture 
destroy  the  value  of  the  opening  exercises,  and 
turn  them  into  a  source  of  danger.  The  prayers 
and  Scripture  lessons  do  not  carry  their  own 


FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER.      107 

meaning  to  the  pupils.  The  manner,  tone,  and 
style  of  utterance  adopted  by  the  teacher  con- 
stitute the  vehicle  of  thought  and  feeling  to 
the  young  mind.  The  familiar  petitions  of 
"  the  Lord's  Prayer,"  for  example,  must  become 
the  living  desires  of  the  teacher,  and  find  true 
emotional  utterance,  if  the  prayer  is  to  become 
more  than  a  decent  form.  Bible-reading  by 
the  teachers  should  be  an  example  of  good 
reading — that  is,  reading  which  conveys  the 
apprehended  thought  to  the  listening  ear.  The 
affecting  scenes  in  the  life  and  death  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  must  have  their  pathos 
actually  expressed  if  they  are  to  exercise  any 
moulding  influence  over  the  disposition  and 
conduct  of  the  pupils. 


CONCLUSION. 

WHAT  has  been  said  as  to  the  ends  of 
teaching,  and  the  means  to  be  employed 
for  attaining  them,  is  enough  to  show  that  the 
duties  devolving  on  a  teacher  are  of  no  slight 
difficulty.  But  to  a  competent  teacher  the 
work  never  can  be  uninteresting.  Those  who 
wish  an  easy  life  would  act  wisely  did  they 
turn  in  some  other  direction  than  the  school- 
room. Those  who  are  willing  to  give  thought, 
and  patience,  and  strenuous  effort  to  the  work 
of  life  will  find  in  the  school-room  a  most 
attractive  sphere  of  usefulness.  Much  is  said 
of  the  routine  of  a  teacher's  life.  It  is  a  one- 
sided view  which  leads  to  the  remark.  In  so 
far  as  the  subjects  to  be  taught  are  concerned, 
it  is  routine,  but  in  no  other  sense.  There  is, 
indeed,  endless  variety  in  school  life.  The 
unfolding  of  youthful  minds,  with  the  varying 
phases  of  curiosity  and  carelessness,  erroneous 
apprehension,  and  quick  recognition  of  what  is 
taught,  presents  an  increasing  source  of  attrac- 
tion. The  early  attempts  at  self-government, 

108 


CONCLUSION.  109 

with  their  comical  failures  and  more  serious 
outbreaks,  their  flow  of  feeling,  now  playful, 
now  serious,  and  again  deepening  into  passion, 
make  a  teacher's  life  one  of  the  most  lively. 
If  a  dull  feeling  of  sameness  creep  over  our 
minds,  there  is  something  wrong  with  ourselves 
in  our  teaching.  With  the  lofty  end  the  teacher 
has  in  view,  and  the  variety  of  nature  presented 
in  a  considerable  gathering  of  children,  a 
teacher's  work  should  never  seem  tame. 

The  grand  ends  of  teaching  are  embraced  in 
the  two  words  Instruction  and  Training.  Fail- 
ing in  these,  or  in  either  of  them,  the  teacher 
fails  to  attain  the  end  he  has  set  himself  to 
reach.  A  lower  aim  cannot  be  accepted  with- 
out falling  beneath  the  true  professional  level. 
No  true  teacher  can  make  salary  the  end  of 
effort.  No  matter  in  what  profession  a  man 
may  be,  if  pay  is  the  one  end  for  which  he 
works  he  is  self-degraded.  We  come  very  near 
the  source  of  sound  moral  life  in  this  matter. 
The  discussions  of  ancient  philosophers  as  to 
receiving  payment  for  teaching  show  how  much 
the  dignity  and  power  of  the  teacher  were  con- 
ceived to  be  dependent  on  superiority  to  the 
mercenary  spirit.  If  these  philosophers  dis- 
cussed the  question,  not  only  with  eagerness, 
but  even  with  undue  keenness  of  feeling,  this 
shows  how  important  it  seemed  in  their  eyes. 
We  can  discuss  the  question  now  free  from  the 
feeling  occasioned  by  the  conduct  of  professed 
Sophists.  We  clearly  see  how  honourable  it  is 
that  a  man  should  live  by  his  profession ;  but 
we  as  clearly  perceive  that  it  is  unworthy  of  a 


110  ON  TEACHING. 

man  to  hold  his  profession  exclusively  for  the 
living  it  affords.  It  is,  however,  well  for  us, 
and  for  all  interests  concerned,  that  pay  is 
needed  by  all  workers  in  the  several  spheres 
of  human  activity.  This  granted,  it  is  clear 
the  teacher's  salary  should  be  such  as  to  give 
him  a  good  position  in  society.  If  the  general 
standard  of  income  for  teachers  be  low  in  any 
country,  it  indicates  either  want  of  spirit  among 
the  people,  or  want  of  reflection  as  to  the  real 
value  of  education.  Our  country  is  not  with- 
out blame  in  this  respect,  but  fortunately  a 
remedy  has  been  provided.  The  School  Boards 
of  the  country  have  shown  their  sense  of  the 
value  of  liberal  remuneration  for  efficient  ser- 
vice. High  efficiency  and  high  pay  must  go 
together.  This  is  a  lesson  which  by  force  of 
circumstances  the  School  Boards  are  likely  to 
press  on  each  other's  attention.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  of  unspeakable  importance  that  the 
teacher  keep  his  own  mind  fixed  on  some  end 
vastly  higher  than  payment.  There  is  a  wide 
difference  between  making  a  livelihood  by  one's 
profession,  and  discharging  professional  duties 
for  the  sake  of  the  livelihood.  Toil  and 
remuneration  are  naturally  associated ;  but 
money  is  a  poor  reward  for  life-long  effort  in 
any  sphere.  "A  fair  day's  wage  for  a  fair 
day's  work  "  is  a  just  maxim  to  be  put  to  use 
by  all.  But  the  man  who  makes  this  maxim 
the  sole  test  of  contract  degrades  himself, 
whether  he  be  employer  or  employed.  On  the 
one  side,  much  depends  upon  what  is  meant  by 
fair  pay ;  on  the  other,  what  is  meant  by  fair 


CONCLUSION.  Ill 

work.  The  rule  so  often  repeated  as  the  em- 
bodiment of  justice,  can  afford,  as  we  daily 
see,  shelter  for  a  very  low  ideal  of  life.  As  to 
"  fair  work,"  much  more  is  involved  in  it  than 
a  time-measure  can  indicate,  or  than  muscle- 
force,  or  even  brain-force,  can  supply.  Routine 
work  implies  a  worker  who  is  a  drudge,  and 
who  cannot  comply  with  the  maxim  in  any 
righteous  sense.  To  have  an  ideal  of  our  work, 
and  to  come  as  near  to  it  as  possible,  should  be 
the  great  aim  with  us  all.  I  have  touched  the 
question  of  pay  only  because  under  the  arrange- 
ments of  our  national  system  teachers  seem  to 
be  exposed  to  special  temptations.  "Pay- 
ment by  result  "  is  only  a  special  modification 
of  the  maxim, — "  A  fair  day's  wage  for  a  fair 
day's  work."  It  is  equitable,  and  in  the 
management  of  a  general  scheme,  inevitable. 
But  it  leaves  the  highest  things  unacknow- 
ledged, and  is  apt  to  turn  attention  from  them. 
It  can  be  easily  squared  with  a  vulgarized  type 
of  school  management.  It  can  take  the  finer 
and  nobler  qualities  of  influence  entirely  out  of 
school  life.  It  is  a  sound  principle  within  its 
own  field  of  application,  but  applied  beyond  its 
own  appropriate  and  narrow  sphere  it  becomes 
actually  pernicious.  None  but  the  teacher  can 
defend  the  nation  from  the  evil  consequences 
of  its  own  system  of  pecuniary  rewards.  To 
work  to  the  "  Code  "  is  needful,  to  work  to  no 
higher  standard  is  voluntary  degradation.  The 
most  favourable  report  of  an  inspector  speaks 
only  to  the  former,  and  may  by  its  expression 
of  approval  cover  with  respectability  a  most 


112  ON  TEACHING. 

serious  deficiency.  The  teacher  must  aim  at 
satisfying  the  "  Code,"  and  doing  a  great  deal 
more.  Children  must  be  taught  to  read,  write, 
and  count.  This  much  the  Education  Depart- 
ment must  require,  and  the  attainment  in  each 
case  can  be  exactly  tested.  But  educated  chil- 
dren must  contribute  a  great  deal  more  to 
national  life  than  these  attainments  imply. 
Results  in  this  higher  sphere  the  Department 
has  no  means  of  testing.  Development  of 
character  cannot  be  codified  and  measured  by 
results.  There  are  results  of  teaching  which 
are  unspeakably  important,  yet  which  will  not 
bring  a  single  shilling  of  addition  to  the  school 
grant.  But  parents  will  appreciate  what  the 
inspector  has  to  pass  by  unnamed.  School 
Boards  will  estimate  at  a  high  rate  what  the 
Department  cannot  place  in  the  schedule. 

Work  has  its  real  reward  in  the  end  it  seeks. 
Work  which  cannot  be  reckoned  for  in  money 
payments  has  a  better  recompence.  To  make 
good  citizens,  as  Plato  was  wont  to  argue,  is 
better  than  to  seek  pleasure;  or  better  still, 
as  Christianity  teaches  the  lesson,  to  aid  others 
in  attaining  moral  goodness  in  all  its  forms  is 
a  task  worthy  of  the  highest  endowments. 
Here  it  is  the  teacher  can  render  the  greatest 
service.  No  nation  can  keep  in  the  front  rank 
except  by  education.  For  stability  and  influ- 
ence the  nation  must  look  to  parents  and 
teachers,  who  are  moulding  the  character  of 
the  rising  generation.  During  the  Franco- 
German  war,  the  oft-repeated  remark  was  that 
the  schoolmaster  had  gained  the  German  vie- 


CONCLUSION.  113 

tones.  The  fact  was  clearly  established.  Ger- 
many had  the  best  intelligence  of  the  country 
in  the  ranks.  Under  our  military  system 
nothing  akin  to  this  can  happen ;  but  the  roots 
of  national  influence  go  immensely  deeper  than 
the  army,  and  stretch  immensely  wider.  It  is 
the  morality  underlying  the  intelligence  which 
is  the  secret  spring  of  vital  energy  in  a  people. 
The  war  test  we  do  not  wish  to  see  applied ; 
but  if  British  teachers  can  quietly  and  steadily 
turn  the  forces  of  vice  and  crime,  we  shall  have 
reason  to  rejoice  more  than  the  Germans  did 
over  the  return  of  their  victorious  troops.  Our 
worst  foes  are  within  our  own  borders.  Our 
best  friends  are  those  within  our  own  lines, 
who  promote  intelligence,  self-control,  and  devo- 
tion to  a  noble  life.  Amongst  these  our  teachers 
stand  conspicuous.  But  it  is  never  to  be  over- 
looked in  our  estimate  of  teaching  that  moral 
fruits  are  the  best.  If  a  teacher,  year  by  year, 
present  the  great  bulk  of  his  scholars  for  exami- 
nation, and  succeed  in  passing  over  90  per  cent, 
of  them  in  all  departments,  he  may  well  be  con- 
gratulated. But  there  is  another  aim  higher 
still.  It  is  to  have  his  scholars  so  habituated 
to  self-control,  that  they  shall  be  prepared  for 
wise  direction  of  their  own  conduct  when  all 
the  checks  and  helps  of  home  and  school  are 
completely  withdrawn.  In  such  a  case  the 
after-life  of  the  scholars  will  reflect  honour  on 
his  labours  as  discovering,  though  at  a  great 
distance  of  time,  the  fruits  of  the  discipline  of 
school  life.  This  is  the  highest  result  of  educa- 
tional effort.  It  is  the  full  reward  of  anxious 


114  ON  TEACHING. 

thought  and  toil  In  such  a  case  the  teacher 
sees  his  own  better  life  reproduced  in  those 
who  caught  from  him  many  of  their  early  im- 
pulses towards  a  life  of  moral  elevation. 


THE  END. 


PRINTED  BY  T.  AKD  A.  CONSTABLE,  PRINTERS  TO  HER  MAJESTY. 
AT  THE  EDINBURGH  UNIVERSITY  PRESa 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 

SUBJECT  TO  FINE  IF 

DEC  3  1  195^   EDUCAT|0|^ 

APR  5      1962 
MAY  1 1  1962 

JIAY  29  1962, 


JUJU-WO 


2  5/9/0 


JUL    2  1973 
T?ECS«VED 

JUL    §117 


Form  I,-B 

SDm-l,'42(SolB> 


RETURNED  TO 

LIBRARY 


A    000  970  025    3 


Education 
Library 

LB 

1025 
Cl2o 
1875 


UCLA-ED/PSYCH  Library 

LB  1025  C120  1875 


L  005  584  419  5 


